UVALDE, Texas – She adored Koala bears and loved the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and dancing to TikTok videos. She wanted her grandparents to pick her up as often as possible from school because they would treat her to tacos, her family said.
A funeral was being held Thursday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, Texas, for Layla Marie Salazar, a swift-footed and quick-witted 11-year-old. She was among the last of the 21 victims of the May 24 mass school shooting in the southern Texas town to be laid to rest.
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Layla's family described her as rambunctious in an obituary published on a funeral home's website, and her father told The Associated Press that she was a lot of fun and “super-energetic.”
She took pride in winning races at Robb Elementary School 's annual field days — six of them.
“I knew right away that she was fast when she was beating older kids,” Vincent Salazar said. “When she realized how fast she was, she just — you know, she gravitated to that.”
Layla's father said she was looking forward to a trip to the zoo and seeing the new Marvel superhero movie, “Thor: Love and Thunder.” The movie's trailer used a rock song they both loved, “Sweet Child O' Mine” by Guns N' Roses.
“Me and Layla would jam to this on the way to school and it’s the only thing that’s bringing me peace right now,” he said in a Facebook post the day after her death.
Later, he posted that Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash had offered his condolences.
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More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting