UVALDE — Time seems to stand still in the main square of Uvalde, the epicenter of the pain and hopelessness this community was thrown into Tuesday after losing 19 children and two teachers.
Three days after the shooting at Robb Elementary School, businesses display “Uvalde Strong” signs in their windows, and traffic along Main Street continues, but cars slow down as they reach the square.
Trees are dressed in blue and pink bows.
A constant trickle of people stop at the memorial erected around the water fountain at the center, and walk around the 21 wooden crosses, each honoring one of the victims.
People write their messages on heart-shaped plywood nailed on top of each cross.
“I ask your forgiveness on behalf of all of us who do not realize the sadness of young people,” was written on 11-year-old Jaliah Nicole Silguero’s cross. “Fly high,” was written on the cross for Jose Flores, 10. “Softball game never ends in Heaven,” was written for Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres, 10. And “Mommy loves you Chino, to infinity and beyond,” was the message for Xavier Javier Lopez, 10.
Adalynn Ruiz, daughter of teacher Eva Mireles, 44, wrote a message on the cross of Irma García, the other teacher killed in the attack: “Give my mom a hug for me, you’re a hero.”
Unable to contain her tears and barely able to stand up, Mercedes Salas, a fourth-grade teacher from the same school, arrived Friday at the memorial.
“There are no words,” said Salas, who started crying as soon as she saw the crosses. “It is awful.”
On Tuesday, Salas was in her classroom and hid her 16 students when the gunfire began.
Salas ordered her students to get to the floor and hide underneath a cabinet. She directed them to pray while waiting to be rescued.
“They were crying and I told them to start praying instead,” she told Univision. “I couldn’t cry because I thought I better not show my emotions.”
After the shooting was over and her students left the school, Salas locked herself at home.
Her friend Griselda Flores, a teacher at another elementary school, convinced her Friday to visit the memorial to start coping with her grief.
‘I want answers’
At 10:50 a.m., Dora Mendoza arrived at the main square.
As soon as she got to the cross with the name of her granddaughter, Amerie Jo Garza, she started sobbing uncontrollably.
“I can’t stand so much pain, I’m at home and I start screaming and crying. If I’m taking a shower, I cry and I want to know why,” said Mendoza. “She (Amerie) was still sleeping with me, she was my little girl.”
As she learns more details about the investigation, Mendoza’s grief mixes with anger.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said Friday the students repeatedly called 911 while 18-year-old Salvador Ramos carried out the attack. “Please send the police now,” one little girl pleaded, as officers waited outside for more than 45 minutes to get into the building.
“I want answers, why didn’t they come in before? There was a ceremony (to recognize outstanding students), I don’t understand why they didn’t have security, that’s what I want to know,” said Mendoza.
Toys and mementos
The crosses at the memorial are quickly collecting mementos, stuffed animals, toys, flowers and photos.
Someone left a Baby Yoda doll and a mini football at the base of the cross for 10-year-old Rojelio Torres.
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10, got a brown teddy bear and a pink unicorn made of plastic. Jose Flores, 10, got a Hot Wheels toy car and a Disney Stitch doll.
Annabelle Rodriguez, 10, got a wreath made of crayons and a blue teddy bear.
Someone left helium balloons, but they burst under direct sunlight.
Even more pain coming
People arrive at the memorial, hug and console each other.
A group of people from Hondo, a small town about 40 miles east, connected by state highway 90, came to Uvalde to pay respect to the families of the deceased. They offered free snacks.
“I feel deeply hurt because I have a daughter about the same age,” said Erika López, who took her daughter and son with her.
She offered free granola bars, potato chips, Gatorade and water bottles from a foldable table she set up at one of the corners of the square.
Across the street, the Opera House building, a historic structure built in 1891, placed in its windows an “Uvalde Strong” sign made from industrial tape.
The theater had been advertising the Robin Hood and the Heroes of Sherwood Forest play for the July 22-23 weekend.
Residents of Uvalde said there’ll be even more pain when funerals start, likely next week.
“This was a tragedy, but the bloodshed by these children cannot be in vain and has to be used for something,” said the Rev. Humberto Renovato, pastor of the Fuente de Aguas Vivas Evangelical Church.
For the past couple of days, he has prayed with and consoled those who came by the memorial, he said.
Away from the cordoned-off crime scene and the hundreds of journalists, families of the deceased held another vigil Friday night. No more cameras, they asked.
They wanted their privacy.
