The grieving Texas town of Uvalde has begun laying to rest the 21 children and teachers who were killed in a mass shooting at a primary school a week ago, with funerals taking place on Tuesday for a pair of 10-year-old girls.
Obituaries on the websites of Uvalde's two funeral homes said that Amerie Jo Garza was sweet, sassy and funny, and loved swimming and drawing.
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez was an honour pupil, loved learning about whales and dolphins, and dreamt of becoming a marine biologist.
Amerie, Maite, and 17 other pupils, aged between 9 and 11, as well as two of their teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman who burst into their grade four classroom and opened fire with a high-velocity AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
“Our focus on Tuesday is on our families who lost loved ones. We begin burying our children tomorrow, the innocent victims of last week's murders at Robb Elementary School,” Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said in a statement announcing the cancellation of a scheduled city council meeting on Tuesday.
Over the next two weeks, a series of funerals will take place in the town of 16,000 people, which is nearly 80 per cent Latino or Hispanic and largely Roman Catholic.
Among those will be services for the two teachers who died, Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia.
Garcia's husband, Jose, died of a heart attack two days after the shooting. A joint funeral is planned on Wednesday for the couple, who met in high school and had four children.
Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police department, had been scheduled to be sworn in as a new member of the city council during the cancelled meeting.
Mr Arredondo has come under severe criticism for his response to the shooting.
He was the on-scene commander who decided against storming the classroom where the gunman opened fire, erroneously believing he had time to mount an assault, state public safety officials have said.
Local police waited outside the classroom for nearly an hour as children called the 911 emergency number pleading for help before a US Border Patrol tactical team killed the gunman.
Videos have surfaced showing the chaotic scene outside of the school, where desperate parents gathered as police responded to the attack.
One video, shot by a bystander and aired on CNN on Tuesday, picked up radio traffic of a child's call to police.
“Are you injured?” an adult is heard asking in the video.
“I got shot,” the frantic child said before the audio becomes unintelligible.
As the town grieves, the country again grapples with whether to reform federal and state gun laws, which in Texas allowed the shooter to legally buy weapons a week before the massacre.
Many Democrats, including US President Joe Biden, who travelled to Uvalde on Sunday to comfort the town, have called for more restrictions, including banning assault-style weapons and requiring universal background checks.
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Alanna De Leon writes the name of her friend, Annabelle Rodriguez, who died in the shooting. AFP -
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Amerie Jo Garza into Sacred Heart Catholic Church. AP -
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Amerie Jo Garza, who died in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. AFP -
A memorial in Town Square, Uvalde, Texas, for victims of the Robb Elementary school shooting. Reuters -
A woman places a rose on Layla Salazar’s memorial cross, who was one of the victims that died in the shooting. Reuters -
Bags with brisket sandwiches and a snack that will be sold at a fundraiser for families of the victims. Reuters -
Ashtyn Leigh, 18, hands a man a brisket meal. Reuters -
A choir sings in front of the memorial. Reuters -
People pray in front of memorial crosses. Reuters -
Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the shooting. AFP -
People visit a memorial for the victims. AFP -
Flowers are left outside the school. AFP -
Twenty-one empty chairs are seen outside of a daycare center as a memorial for the victims. AP Photo -
Football teammates of Tess Mata, who died in the Texas school shooting, cry as they visit a makeshift memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse. AFP -
A football teammate of shooting victim Tess Mata cries, supported by her mother. AFP -
Texas police faced angry questions over why it took an hour to stop the gunman who murdered 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, as video emerged of desperate parents begging officers to storm the school. AFP -
Activists join Senate Democrats outside the Capitol, in Washington, to demand action on gun control legislation after the killings at the Texas elementary school this week. AP -
The George R Brown Convention Centre, site of the National Rifle Association annual convention. Days after the deadliest mass school shooting in Texas history, the gun lobbyist group is meeting in Houston, from Friday until Sunday. Reuters -
Pastor Carlos Contreras preaches to his congregation as photos of some of the children killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary flash on the screen at Primera Iglesia Bautista, in Uvalde. Reuters -
People march after a vigil held to stand with the Uvalde families and demand an end to gun violence in Newtown, Connecticut. AP -
A woman holds up a banner at the end of the vigil in Newtown, Connecticut. AP -
Newtown was the scene of the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when 20 pupils and six teachers were killed by a gunman. AP -
Candles are lit for each victim as people pray at St Philip's Episcopal Church. EPA -
A makeshift memorial in front of Robb Elementary School. AFP -
Omahar Padillo with his son Omahar Jr, 12, during a community prayer, in Pharr, Texas, for the shooting victims at Robb Elementary School. AP -
Omahar Padillo Jr, 12, and his sister Samantha, 9, with their mother, Silvia Padillo, write messages in support of the victims at Robb Elementary School. AP -
A vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. AFP -
A young mourner at the vigil in Uvalde, Texas. AFP -
Families at the vigil. AFP -
A woman holds a photo of Nevaeh Bravo, who was killed in the mass shooting, during a vigil for the victims of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. AFP -
Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco is comforted by Senator Ted Cruz during a vigil at the Uvalde County Fairplex Arena. AP -
Diana Karau of Uvalde with a therapy dog named Tritan before a vigil to honour those killed at Robb Elementary. AP -
Gun-control advocates Dana Cibulski, left, and Judi Giannini attend a vigil outside the National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. AFP -
Uziyah Garcia, 8, was among those killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. AP -
Pastor Jaime Cabralez, the uncle of shooting victim 10-year-old Eliahana Cruz Torres, is surrounded in prayer at his church in Uvalde, Texas on Wednesday. Reuters -
A woman embraces a child outside Willie de Leon Civic Centre, in Uvalde, where pupils were taken after the school shooting. Bloomberg -
Gun-control advocates hold a vigil outside the National Rifle Association (NRA) headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. AFP -
A woman and child leave the Civic Centre. Reuters
Agencies contributed reporting
