Desperation turned to heart-wrenching sorrow for families of children killed when an 18-year-old gunman barricaded himself in their Texas classroom and began shooting,
He killed at least 19 children and their two teachers at the school in Uvalde.
Relatives who gathered at a civic centre following the shooting on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in the south-western Texas town pleaded for information and turned to social media for help.
By Wednesday morning, many were left with the grim reality of an unimaginable horror as the names of the young victims began to emerge.
One man walked away from the civic centre late Tuesday sobbing into his phone “she is gone”.
Behind the building, a woman stood alone, alternately crying and yelling into her phone, shaking her fist and stamping her feet.
All of the dead were in the same fourth-grade classroom, where the gunman barricaded himself and opened fire on the children and teachers, said Lt Christopher Olivarez, of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Manny Renfro said he got word on Tuesday that his grandson, eight-year-old Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Mr Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”
Mr Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break.
“We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Mr Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practised.”
Lisa Garza (54) of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her cousin, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming.
“He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,” she said. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”
She also lamented what she described as lax gun laws.
“We should have more restrictions, especially if these kids are not in their right state of mind and all they want to do is just hurt people, especially innocent children going to the schools,” Ms Garza said.
Teacher Eva Mireles (44), who was among those killed, was remembered as a loving mother and wife.
“She was adventurous. She is definitely going to be very missed,” said 34-year-old relative Amber Ybarra, of San Antonio.
As Ms Ybarra prepared to give blood for the wounded, she wondered how no one noticed trouble with the gunman in time to stop him.
“To me, it’s more about raising mental health awareness,” said Ms Ybarra, a wellness coach who attended Robb Elementary herself. “Someone could possibly have seen a dramatic change before something like this happened.”
Ms Mireles posted a letter on the school’s website at the start of the school year, introducing herself to her new students.
“Welcome to the 4th grade! We have a wonderful year ahead of us!” she wrote, noting she had been teaching 17 years, loved running and hiking, and had a “supportive, fun, and loving family”.
She mentioned that her husband was a school district police officer, and they had a grown daughter and three “furry friends”. – AP