Uvalde funeral home providing free services to families of Texas school shooting victims
A woman cries and hugs a young girl while on the phone outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center where grief counseling will be offered in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. – A teenage gunman killed 18 young children in a shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, in the deadliest US school shooting in years. The attack in Uvalde, Texas — a small community about an hour from the Mexican border — is the latest in a spree of deadly shootings in America, where horror at the cycle of gun violence has failed to spur action to end it. (Photo by allison dinner / AFP) (Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)
ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images
After 19 children and at least two adults were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24, one local funeral home has announced they will be providing services free of charge to victims and their families. Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home located in Uvalde, about 80 miles west of San Antonio, announced the news in a post on their Facebook page on Tuesday evening.
“We have fought together as a community and we will pull together as one now in our time of need. Hillcrest will be assisting families with NO COST for funerals for all involved in today’s horrific events. Prayer for our small amazing town. #UvaldeStrong,” the family-run business wrote.
The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was killed on the scene by officials. He reportedly purchased two AR15-style rifles just three days before Tuesday’s massacre. The event marks the deadliest school shooting at a U.S grade school since 2012, when 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.
Uvalde has an estimated population of 24,729 as of July 2021, according to the U.S Census Bureau. About 89% of Robb Elementary School is Hispanic, according to 2020 TEA data.
This is not the first time the Funeral Home has showed up for the local elementary school. On Wednesday morning, May 25, Hillcrest shared photos from May of 2021, from the last day of the spring semester, when they purchased boxes of pizzas for the entire school. “Today we will be assisting student families in a different manner,” they wrote. The last day of school for the district was scheduled to be this Thursday, May 26.
Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home can be reached at (830) 333-9036 or by visiting their website.
