Broken heart: Husband of teacher killed in Texas shooting dies of grief

The husband of one of the teachers killed in the Texas school shooting this week collapsed and died Thursday while he was preparing for his wife's funeral, the family said.

Joe Garcia had been married to his high school sweetheart, Irma Garcia, for 24 years before she was gunned down Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Irma Garcia was one of two teachers killed by a teenage gunman in the shooting that left 21 people dead - including 19 children.

The couple - who were married for 24 years - are survived by four children.

By Thursday night, an online fundraiser for the Garcia family had raised nearly $1.6m (£1.3m) out of an initial modest goal of $10,000, reported the BBC.

The Garcias’ nephew, John Martinez, said via Twitter that the couple’s children – ages 13, 15, 19 and 23 – had now lost both parents.

Irma Garcia taught fourth-grade students at Robb elementary, in a mostly Hispanic community about 85 miles west of San Antonio, where she had worked for 23 years.

While complete details about Joe Garcia’s death weren’t immediately available Thursday, research has shown that the death of a spouse is one of the most stressful things a person can endure, and grief can take a deadly toll on one’s body in what is termed broken heart syndrome.