Fourth-grade teacher Irma Garcia was one of two teachers killed Tuesday in a mass shooting at Rob Elementary School in Uwalde, Texas. On Thursday morning, her husband and her high school sweetheart, Joe, died from what family members said was an “emergency room.”
“I really believe that Joe died of a broken heart,” Irma Garcia’s cousin Debra Austin wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Losing the love of my life for more than 25 years was too much to bear.”
Courtesy of GoFundMe
One of the couple’s nephews tweeted that Joe Garcia died after suffering a heart attack at home.
“These two will make everyone feel loved, no matter what,” he tweeted. “They have the purest hearts I ever love [so much] tia and tio, please be with me every step of the way. ”
Joe Garcia was 50 years old and had just recovered from leaving flowers at his wife’s memorial when he “almost just fell,” his nephew John Martinez told The New York Times.
CBS News contacted members of Garcia’s family for more information.
Martinez wrote on Twitter that his uncle had “died of grief.”
“I really have no words for how we all feel,” he said. “… God has mercy on us, it’s not easy.”
EXTREMELY heartbreaking and I come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia died of grief, I really have no words for how we all feel, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY, God have mercy on us, it’s not easy pic.twitter.com/GlUSOutRVV
– John Martinez @ (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
Death from grief, known as broken heart syndrome, is caused by a surge of stress hormones, according to the American Heart Association, which is usually caused by an emotionally stressful event. The death of a loved one is a common cause of stress-induced cardiomyopathy.
According to the association, it is often misdiagnosed as a heart attack due to such symptoms. Both attacks show a dramatic change in rhythm, but no blocked arteries in broken heart syndrome.
Martinez said the couple are high school lovers and have four children aged 23, 19, 15 and 13.
“No child should go through this,” Martinez tweeted. “My heart breaks for them.”
A fourth-grader who survived Tuesday’s shooting told CBS affiliates KENS-TV that Irma Garcia and another murdered teacher, 44-year-old Eva Mireles, had saved the lives of him and other children.
“They were in front of my classmates to help,” he said. “To save them.”
After Tuesday’s shooting, Martinez said his aunt “sacrificed herself to protect the children in her classroom.”
“Irma Garcia is her name,” he said, “and she died a hero.”
School shooting in Uwald, Texas
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Lee Cohen is a social media producer and fashion reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues.
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