Moment Meghan Markle makes touching call to check in on sister of Uvalde shooting victim Irma Garcia whose husband died of a heart attack two days after massacre

This is the touching moment Meghan Markle called to check in on one of the families hardest hit by the tragedy that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.

In a video showing a small portion of the phone call, Markle can be heard laughing as he talks to Irma Garcia's sister. Irma, 46, was one of the teachers killed while protecting her students during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.

“How are they doing?” Markle asks, referring to Irma's children. “They actually asked to be left alone because it's Father's Day,” her sister responds, adding that she contacted them via text but was not bothered. The call took place on Father's Day.

The tragedy of the Garcia family made headlines worldwide in the aftermath of the massacre. Two days after Irma was shot dead by gunman Salvador Ramos, her husband, Joe, died of a heart attack.

The couple had four children together, ranging in age from teenagers to twenty years old.

A total of 22 people, including the shooter, were shot dead in two classrooms on May 24, 2022.

Irma Garcia was shot dead while protecting her students from gunman Salvador Ramos, while her husband Joe, pictured here, died of a 'broken heart' just two days later

Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle pays respects at a makeshift memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse in Uvalde, Texas, just two days after the tragedy

The video was posted by Irma's cousin, Johnny Martinez. “I've never posted this before, but it clearly needs to be seen. This is just a small part of the video of my mother on the phone with Meghan Markle checking on the family on Father's Day,” he wrote on X.

That was posted in response to a video that went viral showing Markle visiting a shrine set up for the victims two days after the shooting.

The poster of that video roundly criticized Markle, accusing her of bringing a camera crew and using the tragedy to “raise her profile and attract press.”

The tweet was accompanied by a note from the The director of the Center has made it very clear several times that this was not the case.'

In subsequent tweets, Martinez says he has “multiple videos” of his mother on the phone with Markle.

He adds that in the aftermath, the former Suits star sent his family gifts, “none of which were for the media.”

During her visit, Markle left a bouquet of white roses at a makeshift memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse.

She also stopped at a community center in Uvalde that is hosting a blood drive, where she toured the facility and donated food, a volunteer there told DailyMail.com. “She didn't want anyone to know who she was,” the person said at the time.

Markle placed a bouquet of simple white roses at the memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse

Johnny Martinez, who posted the recent video, was heartbroken by the death of his aunt and uncle in 2022

That was the case in 2023 reported that Markle and Prince Harry's Archewell Foundation have raised $3 million to build a new park in Uvalde to honor the dead.

Joe and Irma Garcia were married for 24 years. A GoFundMe page for the family says he died “of a broken heart” after his wife's murder.

“I truly believe that Joe died of a broken heart and that losing the love of his life of over thirty years was too much to bear,” said Irma's cousin Debra Austin.

The couple's nephew tweeted that he had died of “grief.”

“Please pray for our family. God, have mercy on us,” he said.

Survivors of the shooting have told how Irma and fellow teacher Eva Mireles, 44, died while shielding them from the gunman's bullets.

“She died with children in her arms trying to protect them,” Martinez wrote on Twitter at the time.

“They weren't just her students, they were her children too.”

Irma taught at Robb Elementary for 23 years and was previously named Teacher of the Year.

She was one of 19 teachers from the San Antonio area who were finalists for the 2019 Trinity University Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Irma taught third grade, specializing in social studies and ELAR, or English Language Arts and Reading.

'I'm so excited to start this new school year!' she wrote on the school district's website before the start of the school year.

At the time of the shooting, the couple's eldest son was at military training camp and their second eldest was a student at Texas State University.

Joe and son are seen in a Facebook photo holding a heart-shaped sign that reads “Proud Bobcat family,” a nod to the Texas State football team.