The last victim was buried the month after the school shooting
Ceremonies, memorials, and funerals are winding around in the southwestern Texas Hill Country town of Uvalde, but the mourning isn’t over yet.
It has been a month since a gunman stormed into Robb Primary School in Uvalde and opened fire, killing 19 children and two teachers. More than a dozen others were injured, as was the psyche of the quiet town, which sadly became the focus of national attention.
Service was scheduled for Saturday in San Angelo for Uziyah Garcia, 10, the last victim to be buried. His grandfather, Manny Renfro, remembers “Uzi” as a fast runner who could catch the ball – and as “the sweetest boy I ever knew.”
Clinical psychologist Dr David Read Johnson, co-director of the Post-Traumatic Stress Center in New Haven, Connecticut, says funerals can provide a sense of closure, a “vessel” of grief. and is a ritual that helps the community deal with loss.
The community will ask for strong emotional and social support, he said, starting with the families of the victims and then the students in the schools.
Trauma informed strategies and “safe spaces” to share and process emotions will be critical to the community’s long-term healing, Johnson said.
Johnson told USA TODAY: “Beyond the immediate response, families will have to face the tough realities of living without their loved ones. “The community, no longer focused on a specific task at hand, will need to confront the tougher questions of what comes next for Robb Elementary, for education and for safety. of the school.”
RUN, HIDE, BATTLE: School shooting drills can be traumatic, but are they effective?
Uvalde is a grim symptom of a national illness. According to the USA TODAY serial killer database, the Associated Press and Northeastern University have had more deaths in the past five years than in the previous 12.
School campus shootings at an all-time high, according to K-12 . shooting range database at the Center for Defense and Homeland Security of the Naval Graduate School. And guns are now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“One of the most traumatic aspects of mass shootings in the US is that many of our communities – family, local and national – do not have the time to process the horror of the loss of their lives. us before we were battered by another horrifying shooting,” said Kari Winter, professor of American studies at the University of Buffalo, SUNY.
“We’re basically in a state of undeclared civil war.”
A community buried 19 children
Uvalde and its 16,000 inhabitants is a small town with a strong Latino culture and a big heart. Come together to support friends and loved ones as one. Two funeral homes in Uvalde said they would not charge a funeral fee for the victim’s family. And, backed by nationwide support, GoFundMe campaigns for victims’ families raised more than 5 million dollars within a few days of the massacre.
Also within a few days, 10 years old Amerie Jo Garza was one of the first to rest. Classmates said she was trying to call 911 on her new phone when she was shot.
Amerie Jo is a Girl Scout and proud of her badges. The Girl Scouts are also proud of her, having bestowed Amerie with one of the highest honors in Girl Scouts: the Bronze Cross. It is awarded for saving or attempting to save the life of someone who is in danger of the Girl Scout’s own life.
On May 24, Amerie did all she could to save the lives of her classmates and teachers. “We will always carry her story with us and ensure that her brave deeds will endure for generations to come.”
‘HER ACTION WILL END’:Girl Scout Award presented to victims of Uvalde
A few days later, Eliahna “Ellie” Garcia was buried. The day after she was supposed to turn 10. Her family was planning a big party and Ellie was hoping to receive gifts related to the Disney movie “Encanto”.
Ellie loves making videos and has been practicing dancing with her sister at the quinceañera party – a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday – although it’s still years away.
Siria Arizmendi, Ellie’s aunt, said: ‘All the children face a long road to recovery.
Layla Salazar, 11, was one of the last children to be buried. Layla loves swimming and running, she’s a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and loves to dance to TikTok videos, her father Vincent Salazar said. She won six races on Robb Elementary School’s race day. He shared photos of her with her ribbons on social media.
“Grief is a process,” says Ogbonnaya Omenka, assistant professor and director of diversity at Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. “For the sake of public health, the more support is given to those who are grieving, the shorter their recovery and return to their role in society will be.”
How does a community grow?
Controversy over police action in the minutes after the shooting began did not make the healing process any easier. There are enough officers on the scene stopped the gunman three minutes after he entered the buildingThe director of the Texas Department of Public Safety testified this week.
Steve McCraw described the police response as a “huge failure” that ignored lessons from previous shootings and put the lives of officers before the lives of children. McCraw blamed the incident commander, Pete Arredondo, the school district’s sheriff, for preventing officers from quickly confronting the gunman.
LATEST:Uvalde police respond to a ‘huge failure’ that ignores lessons from shootings, top Texas police say
Arredondo said he did all he could and pointed to the effort to evacuate hundreds of students from other classrooms during the tragedy. But many parents and other communities want him gone.
“In any public health intervention, controversy can become a distraction to solutions, both immediate and long-term,” says Omenka, referencing an adage. African proverb: “When elephants fight, the grass suffers”.
Nancy Sutton, a school portrait photographer, has photographed virtually every student at Uvalde schools for the past 20 years. That includes the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary.
Sutton said the community is taking great care of the families. Recovery has been made more difficult by “bad press” about how the shooting was handled, she said, adding that most residents are upset with police and city officials and want action. .
“We’re all still grieving and it’s going to take some time,” she said. “Families are adamant but of course want answers. I don’t blame them. It’s heartbreaking to see what it has done to our community and our school district.”
Part of people’s recovery from a public health tragedy, Omenka said, is understanding the factors that contribute to the problem and figuring out how to prevent it from recurring or how to “deal with it.” ” if it comes back, Omenka said.
“This could lead to controversy and exacerbate the emotional distress brought on by the issue, if there is evidence or the public believes that more action could be taken to prevent or resolve it,” he said. solve the problem.
“Community grief can be transformative in a number of ways,” said clinical psychologist Johnson. The event can be avoided and its memory inhibited, leading to unresolved trauma that will fester for years.
Or, as in Parkland, Florida — where a teenager opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people — it can build into activism and enduring community conversation. steady, Johnson said.
‘PROTECT CHILDREN, NOT GUN’:The March for Our Lives protests draw thousands across the US
“Only by accepting the reality of what happened can a community find creative new ways to support each other and heal each other over time,” he said. “The pain and loss of May 24, 2022 will never leave the community of Uvalde, but if properly and consistently addressed, hopefully its sufferings can be transformed into a society.” more compassionate and understanding society.”
Sandy Phillips, who lost her daughter, Jessica Redfield Ghawi, said: ‘Pain and shock are part of this process,’ said. Ghawi was among 12 people killed during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Phillips has an idea of what the Uvalde survivors faced.
“They are in shock,” she said.
Frank DeAngelis was the principal of Columbine High School in 1999 when two students opened fire, killing 12 students and teachers.
He said Columbine High is now stronger than ever.
“A lot of times, people ask me when we will be back to normal. But you really have to redefine what is normal,” he said. This does not need to define the community. “
Authorities plan to level the school, but experts say invisible scars can last for decades. In Uvalde, residents say some things won’t change. Jesse Flores, 51, said he wouldn’t lock his door more often and wouldn’t treat outsiders differently after the shooting.
“We can tell when people are coming from town. We treat them like anyone else, like a family,” said Flores, who runs a shop downtown. , who runs a store downtown. “One event won’t change the way I act.”
‘Gun violence doesn’t end with a ceasefire’:Uvalde is forever changed after the tragic shooting
Contribution: Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY; Niki Griswold, Chuck Lindell and Luz Moreno-Lozano, Austin-American; Related press