Meghan Markle visits Uvalde memorial for victims of Texas school shooting
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, paid a visit to a memorial for the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday afternoon.
Accompanied by a bodyguard and wearing a baseball cap, white T-shirt and jeans, she looked down at crosses left to memorialize the 19 children and two teachers killed in the attack. Ignoring calls from reporters, she placed white roses tied with a purple ribbon at the cross for 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia.
Someone had written on the cross, “You will be missed.”
The boy’s father, Sergio Garcia, 35, of San Angelo, Texas, described Uziyah as an energetic, loving and gentle boy. Garcia hadn’t spend much time with his son over the last eight months, as the boy’s parents were in a custody dispute.
The Texas school shooting victims were athletes, artists, dancers and kids with big dreams. Most were under the age of 11.
But that didn’t stop Uziyah from spilling his love for his father in their short moments together.
Garcia said his son always expressed his love. He didn’t say goodbye without saying “I love you,” and wished his dad a good day at work in the mornings.
“He was my world. He was my everything,” Garcia said. “Now I’m never going to get to hold him again, never going to get to kiss him again.”
Garcia sobbed as he remembered teaching his only son how to ride a bike without training wheels, and playing basketball and football with him.
The names and stories of those killed in the Texas school shooting are emerging as the stunned community of Uvalde tries to cope with Tuesday’s attack.
Uziyah also loved playing games on his Oculus virtual reality headset, and video games such as Fortnite, Garcia said. He loved singing karaoke and doing backflips on trampolines.
This Sunday, Uziyah was meant to be reunited with his father for summer vacation in San Angelo. He wanted it to be just like last summer, filled with visits to the Dallas Zoo, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor.
Or maybe like their most recent spring break — the last time Garcia saw Uziyah — which they spent watching movies, going to arcades and trampoline houses.
“He was my little man,” Garcia said.
Now, instead of planning his vacation with his son, Garcia is waiting for the boy’s body to be released. He drives the four hours from San Angelo to Uvalde, back and forth, as he waits to hear news.
The hardest thing, he said, is imagining what his son’s final moments were. Was he scared? Was he crying?
“I break down. I’m lost.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
