Marysol Davis lost her “little cousin” Maite Rodriguez in last week’s mass school shooting.
On Monday, she drove to Uvalde — the city where she grew up — to attend the visitation for the 10-year-old Robb Elementary student. She also stopped by the visitation for 10-year-old Amerie Garza.
Multiple funerals are scheduled for the next few days, including those for Amerie and Maite on Tuesday.
Davis said she wants people to remember Maite as the “sweetest little girl.”
“[She] always had a smile on her face. She was just daddy’s girl, and I love the relationship that her and my cousin had,” she said. “It was beautiful. She was just a sweet little girl, the kindest.”
Davis said she’s still trying to process what happened.
“It’s been tough,” she said. “It’s been really, really hard to even know that something like this could even happen in such a small town where everybody knows each other.”
Seeing the number of people from out of town and out of state visit the town has been comforting for the Uvalde native.
Long lines of people have formed at both the makeshift memorial on the town square and the one outside Robb Elementary School.
“I think it’s amazing the fact that people can come out, take time out of their day to actually come and pay their respects to the family and just be here with this community,” she said. “I think they definitely need it.”
She, like many others, are also demanding that more be done to prevent another mass shooting. She said lawmakers should tighten gun laws.
“Not just let anybody purchase a gun,” she said. “If you see red flags, like I just hope there’s more that this country can do to help with that.”
This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is planning to meet virtually to discuss gun reform. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn will be among those participating in talks about gun legislation.
Meanwhile, Uvalde families are focused on burying their loved ones.
Those remembering Amerie say she was brilliant — she had just made the honor roll. Amerie was also kind and sassy. She loved Chick-Fil-A and a good vanilla bean frappé from Starbucks.
Lupe Ibarra is related to Amerie — Ibarra’s cousin was her grandmother. “She was very loved, she was a cheerful happy little girl,” Ibarra said outside Amerie’s visitation.
“And I just talked to my cousin right now and she says she made the house — she made it joyful.”
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