‘These are innocent babies’: grief, loss and love as Uvalde struggles under a heavy cloud

The Texas school killings have touched nearly everyone in the small town, from friends and neighbors to shopkeepers and coaches

The grief is visible on almost every corner in Uvalde, Texas: in the faces of the school-aged kids who are no longer in the classroom and the mournful messages written on the backs of vehicles: “Annabell Rodriguez, daddy missing u”.

Three days after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb elementary, a loss and a sense of deep confusion hangs over this small ranching town like a shadow. “I feel a big heavy cloud right now,” said Jose Cazares, the uncle of Jackie Cazares, who died in the shooting. “It’s not the same.”

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