When Eulalio Diaz Jr. entered the classroom in Uvalde, Texas where 19 children and two teachers were killed A few hours before the intruder fired, he saw, among other things, the lifeless body of a former high school classmate. A little further lay the bodies of 4th grade students, children aged 9-10 whose parents are personal friends.
As a Justice of the Peace in the small town of Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman caused one of the worst bloodbaths in a US school, Diaz took on the gruesome task of identifying the victims. His duties were usually limited to small court cases and the ratification of marriages. But because there is no medical examiner in Uwalde, Diaz was called to take over the case.
Arriving at elementary school, the 49-year-old said he had prepared to face the worst scenario he could ever imagine. But it turned out that it was not enough…
On the floor of the blood-stained classroom, he saw the lifeless body of Irma Garcia, one of the teachers. “She was a year younger than me“We were studying together at Ovalde High School,” Diaz told Reuters.
When a tragedy of this magnitude occurs in a small community, it is like a huge rock falling into a tiny pond. The pain is like a wave from which no one can escape …
“When I got home, after identifying all the victims, I started receiving messages on Facebook and realized that I knew the parents and even the grandparents of many of these children,” he said.
Recognizing the victims was a painful process. “The children do not have ID cards or name tags,” Diaz explains.
Many of the bodies were in a terrible condition. Diaz tried not to burden his parents any more of the victims, hoping he could identify the dead children from the descriptions they had given of the clothes they were wearing that day and the photos they had given him.
In some cases, he failed, and police ordered DNA testing.
“It is my duty to make sure that every body is delivered to the right family,” he says in a trembling voice.
He hopes that for the same reason that so many Ovalde residents mourn – because everyone knows each other – the wounds may heal faster. “We are all here to support each other” emphasizes.
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