Moment Meghan Markle makes touching call to check in on sister of Uvalde shooting victim Irma Garcia whose husband died of a heart attack two days after massacre

This is the touching moment when Meghan Markle called to check-in on one of the families most affected by the tragedy that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. 

In a video showing a small portion of the phone call, Markle can be heard laughing while speaking with Irma Garcia’s sister. Irma, 46, was one of the teachers killed while protecting her students during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.

‘How are they doing?,’ Markle asks, in reference to Irma’s children. ‘They kind of asked to be left alone because it’s Father’s Day,’ her sister replies, adding that she made contact with them via text but didn’t intrude. The call took place on Father’s Day.

The Garcia family tragedy made headlines worldwide in the aftermath of the massacre. Two days after Irma was shot dead by gunman Salvador Ramos, her husband, Joe, died following a heart attack.

The couple had four children together whose ages range from teenagers to 20s.

In total, 22 people, including the gunman, were shot dead in two classrooms on May 24, 2022. 

Irma Garcia’s nephew, Johnny Martinez, posted a short video showing his mother on the phone with Meghan Markle 

Irma Garcia was shot dead while protecting her students from gunman Salvador Ramos while her husband, Joe, shown here, died of a ‘broken heart’ just two days later

Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle pays respect at a makeshift memorial outside Uvalde County Courthouse in Uvalde, Texas, just two days after the tragedy

The video was posted by Irma’s nephew, Johnny Martinez. ‘I’ve never posted this but it clearly needs to be seen, this is just a small part of the video of my mom on the phone with Meghan Markle checking up on the family on Father’s Day,’ he wrote on X.

That was posted in response to a video that went viral showing Markle visiting a shrine that had been setup for the victims, two days after the shooting.

The poster of that video roundly criticized Markle, accusing her of bringing a camera crew with her and of using the tragedy to ‘raise her profile and get press.’

The tweet came with an X community note that stated: ‘This post is untrue in its assertion that Meghan arrived with a camera crew and that her visit was a photo op! The Centre Director has been very clear on multiple occasions this was not the case.’

In subsequent tweets, Martinez says that he has ‘multiple videos’ of his mother on the phone with Markle. 

He adds that the former Suits star sent his family gifts in the aftermath ‘none of which was for the media.’ 

In her visit, Markle laid a bouquet of white roses at a makeshift memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse. 

She also stopped by an Uvalde community center that is hosting a blood drive, where she toured the facility and donated food, a volunteer there told DailyMail.com. ‘She did not want anybody to know who she was,’ the person said at the time. 

Markle placed a bouquet of simple white roses at the memorial site outside of the Uvalde County Courthouse

Johnny Martinez, who posted the recent video, was heartbroken by the death of his aunt and uncle in 2022  

In 2023, it was reported that Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Foundation raised $3 million to build a new park in Uvalde in honor of those killed. 

Joe and Irma Garcia were married for 24 years. A GoFundMe page set up by the family said he died ‘of a broken heart’ in wake of his wife’s murder.

‘I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life of more than 30 years was too much to bear,’ Irma’s cousin Debra Austin said.

The couple’s nephew tweeted that he had died of ‘grief’.

‘Please pray for our family. God have mercy on us,’ he said.

Survivors from the shooting have told how Irma and fellow teacher Eva Mireles, 44, died shielding them from the gunman’s bullets.

‘She passed away with children in her arms trying to protect them,’ Martinez wrote on Twitter at the time. 

‘Those weren’t just her students, they were her kids as well.’ 

Irma taught at Robb Elementary for 23 years and was previously named ‘teacher of the year’.

She was one of 19 San Antonio-area educators named as finalists for Trinity University’s prize for excellence in teaching in 2019.

Irma taught third grade, specializing in social studies and ELAR, or English Language Arts and Reading.

‘I am so excited to begin this new school year already!’ she wrote on the school district’s website before the start of the school year.

At the time of the shooting, the couple’s eldest son was at military boot camp and their second eldest was a student at Texas State University. 

Joe and son can be seen in a Facebook photo holding a heart-shaped sign that reads ‘Proud Bobcat family,’ – a nod to the football team at Texas State.