Husband of Texas teacher killed in school shooting dies from heart attack days after tragedy

Tragedy continues to unfold in Uvalde, Texas for a family that has already been rocked by the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Irma Garcia was a teacher who was killed when a gunman began shooting inside the school on Tuesday.

Now we’ve learned her husband, Joe Garcia, has also died after suffering a massive heart attack on Thursday.

Just a few hours prior to his death, local media filmed Joe as he laid flowers at a memorial for his wife.

The couple were high school sweethearts and married for more than two decades. They had four children together.

Irma was one of two teachers killed in the school shooting. A GoFundMe campaign launched by family members fondly remembers her as a selfless person who loved her students.

“She would literally do anything for anybody……no questions asked. She loved her classroom kids and died trying to protect them,” the page reads, in part.

The family also provided an update on Joe, writing he “died of a broken heart” and of the grief brought on by the loss of “the love of his life of more than 25 years.”

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On Twitter, a person, John Martinez, who identifies himself as a family member, shared more about the couple, writing the love they had for each other and their children was overwhelming.

Martinez told the Detroit Free Press the family was struggling to grasp that while Irma’s son trained for combat, it was his mother who was shot to death.

In a post on the Robb Elementary School website at the start of the school year, Irma wrote about her four children, including one who was in the Marines, in a letter introducing herself to the class.

Martinez, who has been referred to as Irma’s nephew in reports, has previously told the Detroit Free Press the family was struggling to grasp that while Irma’s son trained for combat, it was his mother who was shot to death.

Nineteen children were killed in the school shooting Tuesday. The gunman was also killed.

More than $1.5 million USD was raised by the GoFundMe campaign as of Thursday afternoon.

-With files from The Associated Press