Uvalde coroner says murdered teacher was his classmate

The Texas coroner who responded to the Uvalde massacre has revealed that Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers who were butchered along with 19 children, was his longtime high school classmate.

Eulalio “Lalo” Diaz Jr., the city’s justice of the peace and de facto coroner, rushed to Robb Elementary School on May 24 after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos committed the senseless killing spree.

“I walked around the desk and saw pictures of her family and her butt [the desk]’ Diaz told The US Sun.

“I came back and realized that was Irma,” he said, adding that he was a year ahead of Garcia in high school.

Garcia’s 24-year-old husband, Joe Garcia, later suffered a fatal heart attack after laying flowers at his wife’s memorial. The family said it was caused by grief at his loss.

“I knew both of them, I had worked with Joe before. Great people and I just knew it right away [Irma] was one of the victims,” ​​the coroner told the news agency.

Diaz said he also knew one of the murdered children, 10-year-old Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, the daughter of Uvalde Deputy Sheriff Felix Rubio.

In a previous interview with The US Sun, Diaz described the painstaking process of identifying the tiny bodies.

“I didn’t know what the scene would be like, but I knew the kids wouldn’t have IDs or name tags, so we won’t know who those kids are until we assess the process of what to do,” he said .

“I know most of the parents, grandparents, cousins ​​and cousins. I’m like, ‘Oh god, I can’t believe this is happening,'” Diaz said. “You start putting two and two together and realizing whose child they are, and it gets really close.”

The dismayed man said he sought counseling to deal with the tragedy.

“I’m just making sure I’m okay because I have to deal with it. You always hear from soldiers who come back with PTSD because they see things that aren’t normal to see,” he said.

“And that wasn’t normal to see, so it’s going to take some time. There will be things floating around in my head about the scene that I have a hard time forgetting, but I hope one day I’ll forget them,” he added.