A girl’s soccer coach hospitalized since being shot multiple times during last year’s mass shooting at a Texas Walmart, has died on Saturday.
Guillermo “Memo” Garcia was the last remaining patient from the deadly attack in El Paso on Aug. 3 that has now killed 23 and injured dozens.
“After a nearly nine-month fight, our hearts are heavy as we report Guillermo “Memo” Garcia, our last remaining patient being treated from the El Paso shooting, has passed away,” said David Shimp, chief executive officer for Del Sol Medical Center. He was being treated at the medical center in El Paso.
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Garcia was outside the Walmart with his wife Jessica, and their two children, fundraising by selling lemonade for the girls’ soccer team he helped coach. He was shot in the spine and had undergone multiple surgeries, while his wife suffered leg wounds and survived the attack, according to the El Paso Times.
She issued a statement on Sunday following his passing.
“He fought long and hard, with the help of all his troops he won many battles but lost the war,” Jessica Coco Garcia said, according to El Paso’s KVIA-TV. “We would like to ask the community to continue to lift Memo in prayer and allow us to grief this tremendous loss, we are asking for privacy during this time.”
Gloria Garces kneels in front of crosses at a makeshift memorial near the scene of a mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas last August. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
She added that when the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing orders pass they will have a proper memorial and mass where the community could pay their respects “to an El Paso warrior!”
“His courage, his strength and his story have touched many lives, including those of our caregivers, who tirelessly fought with him and for him every step of the way,” Shimp added. “We are grieving with his family and with our community.”
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The suspect, Patrick Crusius, 21, remains in jail awaiting trial. State prosecutors have charged him with murder and are pursuing the death penalty.
El Paso Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius is arraigned in the 409th state District Court in El Paso, Texas, with Judge Sam Medrano presiding last October. (Mark Lambie/The El Paso Times via AP, Pool)
Police said they arrested Crusius near the shooting after he surrendered to officers, telling them he was targeting “Mexicans.”
The Garcia family joined a number of victims who sued the Walmart over lack of security on the shopping day that saw roughly 3,000 people in the store.
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The Walmart reopened in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
