“She loved animals,” cousin Destiny Esquivel told CNN’s Adrienne Brodus on Monday. “She was determined, she was smart. She would be someone.”
Family and friends gathered Monday for a visit and rosary service for Mayte, who she remembered as a charismatic girl with a bright future. Mayte also cared for and protected her younger cousins, Esquivel said, and tried to help others during the bloody massacre.
“Her classmates said she was brave. He grabbed all the other students and told them where to hide, “Esquivel said. “She’s a hero.”
The devastating loss of 21 lives has deeply hurt a community in South Texas that is gathering in support of each other.
Nineteen of those buried will be buried in custom-made coffins provided by a Texas company, free of charge for families. The two funeral homes in Uwalde have also promised to cover all costs, as more services are scheduled for Tuesday and will continue next week. A service was also held on Monday for 10-year-old Amery Joe Garza, whose father learned last week from two of her classmates whom Amery tried to call 911 during the shooting.
“I just want people to know that she died trying to save her classmates,” Angel Garcia said on Wednesday. “She just wanted to save everyone.”
The visiting room was full of flowers and stuffed animals as family and friends gathered in remembrance, according to a branch of CNN KTRK. Uwalde City Council announced it would postpone its meeting Tuesday, at which several new members were due to be sworn in.
“Our focus on Tuesday is on our families who have lost loved ones,” Mayor Don McLaughlin said in a statement Monday. “Tomorrow we will start burying our children, the innocent victims of last week’s murders at Rob Elementary School. The special meeting of the Municipal Council will not be held on schedule. “
Calls for help from the classroom
One of the new members of the city council, who was due to be sworn in on Tuesday, school police chief Pedro Pete Aredondo, has faced criticism from those who believe law enforcement should have acted more quickly to control it. or eliminate the shooter. A timetable provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows that the gunman was in a classroom with students for more than an hour before being shot and killed by a tactical border patrol response team.
Officers responded within minutes of the suspect’s entry into the classroom, but were repulsed by gunfire and then stationed in the hallway waiting for reinforcements for more than an hour.
At a news conference Friday, Texas Public Security Director Col. Stephen McCro confirmed that the Uwalde school district police chief was the officer who decided not to break into classrooms – although McCrow did not identify Aredondo by name. .
According to a history published by the Texas DPS, several 911 calls were made by children in the classroom where the shooter was while police waited in the hallway.
A student told CNN that his teacher, who was hit by a shooting in a nearby classroom, sent an SMS to 911 for help. The video, shot outside the school during the incident, received by ABC News, includes what appears to have been an audio message informing scene officials that a child was calling 911 from a classroom.
“Advise us to have a child online,” says the dispatcher. “The child advises that he is in a room full of victims.”
The video shows that the police at the scene were informed that at least one child remained alive in the classrooms.
CNN was unable to verify the video / audio itself. It is not clear the source of the video, nor at what point in the incident the sound was heard. CNN turned to the authorities to answer questions about this audio.
A community supported by those near and far
Help continues to pour in from both neighbors and strangers.
Carlos Hernandez, whose restaurant is a mile from Rob Elementary School, handed out more than 60 family-sized plates in less than two hours to feed grieving families and neighbors on Thursday.
“It’s a really difficult situation, I’m just trying to show the kids that they have us as a backbone and a support system,” Hernandez told CNN. “We always provide, whether there is an accident or not.
A team of emotional support dogs and their guides have traveled to Uwalde and will be stationed in the town square this week – eight golden retrievers are wearing blue vests with the words “please pet me”.
“Many times after something like this, people don’t want to talk to someone,” Bonnie Fear, a crisis response coordinator at Lutheran Church Charities, told CNN. “After traumatic events, people don’t want to deal with people, sometimes they just want this thing they can touch, talk to it without being judged, and it’s almost as simple.
“They show unconditional love,” she added, pointing to the dogs.
Elsewhere, the El Progresso Memorial Library has become a place of healing.
On Wednesday, just a day after the shooting, children’s librarian Martha Careon sat in front of rows of young people reading, singing and giggling with the children, taking them to a safe place away from the school, where many witnessed in horror.
“We want our building to be a safe space, a refuge that is a quiet, peaceful and cool refuge,” Mendel Morgan, director of the El Progreso Memorial Library, told CNN.
But Elasar, Holly Ian, Nick Watt, Joe Sutton, Aya Elamrusi, Teresa Waldrop, Amanda Watts, Virginia Langmaid, Aaron Cooper and Paula Reed contributed to this report.
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