A postal worker, an educator, a truck driver, a man visiting his parents and a girl who'd just celebrated her quinceañera, were among the seven people, between the ages of 15 and 57, fatally gunned down in west Texas, officials said Monday.
In addition to those killed, 25 others were injured in the rampage, which occurred after a traffic stop between the west Texas cities of Midland and Odessa on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
The city of Odessa, late Monday afternoon, named all six of the adults killed: Joe Griffith, 40; Mary Granados, 29; Edwin Peregrino, 25; Rodolfo Julio Arco, 57; Kameron Karltess Brown, 30; and Raul Garcia, 35.
Brown resided in Brownwood and Garcia in El Paso, and the rest resided in Odessa, according to the city of Odessa.
The city did not identify the 15-year-old girl from Odessa who died in the attack, but loved one said her name was Leilah Hernandez.
The gunman was killed in a shootout with police near a movie theater after he abandoned his car and stole a U.S. Postal Service van with the letter carrier Granados inside, the agency said.
Granados’ twin sister, Rosie Granados, said they had planned to celebrate their 30th birthday together.
“She was so special,” Rosie Granados told NBC News. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without her.”
Bari Arco said she and Rodolfo Arco hadbeen married for 20 years and have three daughters, ages 3, 6 and 23. The family moved to Odessa from Las Vegas nearly a year ago for Rodolfo Arco’s trucking business.
On Saturday, she said, he was returning from work when a bullet struck him in the head.
“Now he’s gone,” she said.
Peregrino had recently moved to San Antonio and was visiting his parents when he was gunned down in their front yard, the victim's sister Eritizi Peregrino told The Washington Post.
"It happened at our home. You think you're safe at your own house," the grieving sister said. "You're not even safe at your own house."
The youngest victim, Leilah Hernandez, a student at Odessa High School, was with her family at a car dealership when she was fatally shot, relatives said.
The girl, who celebrated her quinceañera in May, died as she pleaded, "Help me, help me," grandmother Nora Leyva said.
Griffith was killed as he sat at a traffic light with his wife and two children, the man's sister said. Griffith was a former math teacher and a day before his death, one of his former students told the victim what an "awesome teacher he was," the victim's sister Carla Byrne said.
The parents of 17-month-old Anderson Davis said their daughter, whose face and chest were injured by shrapnel, was recovering after undergoing surgery Sunday morning.
Ten people were still hospitalized at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa on Monday morning, a spokesman for the hospital said. One person was in critical condition, one person was in serious condition and eight people were in fair condition.
Local police have said it’s unclear why the shooter opened fire Saturday, but they have said the shooting doesn’t appear to have been motivated by domestic or international terrorism.
The gunman had recently been fired from a job, law enforcement officials said.
