America mourns a great loss after yet another mass shooting rocked El Paso, Texas this weekend. Twenty were killed and 26 were critically injured when a 21-year-old man opened fire at a local shopping center.
“Lives were taken who should still be with us today,” lamented Governor Greg Abbott at a news conference near the shopping center and adjacent Walmart.
Two of those precious lives were Jordan and Andre Anchondo, a couple headed to the Walmart on Saturday to go school shopping for their five-year-old daughter, with their 2-month-old in tow.
The newlyweds who recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary had just dropped their daughter off at cheer practice prior to the shopping trip.
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But what started out as an everyday outing soon turned into a nightmare that would leave a family devastated and three children orphaned.
According to Elizabeth Terry and Jesse Jamrowski, relatives of the Anchondos, Jordan shielded the baby boy while her husband dove in front of them as shots rang out.
Tragically, the attacker shot both parents several times, and they were killed instantly.
Jordan Anchondo, 25, was in the mall when the El Paso shooting happened.
She had just celebrated her one year anniversary.
When first responders arrived, they found her lifeless body still shielding her infant son, who was alive.
She gave her life so that he could live. pic.twitter.com/crNYr53QXa
— Muhammad Lila (@MuhammadLila) August 4, 2019
“The baby still had her blood on him. You watch these things and see these things and you never think this is going to happen to your family,” said Terry. “How do parents go school shopping and then die shielding their baby from bullets?”
