25-Year-Old Mom Died Shielding Her Baby From El Paso Shooter

On Saturday, a gunman opened fire in an El Paso, Texas Walmart, killing 20 people and injuring 26 others. Among those killed in the shooting, which was the first of two deadly mass shootings in less than 24 hours, was 25-year-old mother of three, Jordan Anchondo.

As the Associated Press reports, her 19-year-old sister Leta Jamrowski was informed of Anchondo’s death and told that she shielded her two-month-old son as the gunman opened fire.

“From the baby’s injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him,” she explained. Her two-month-old nephew is being treated for broken bones, which he sustained as his mother fell to the ground protecting him. “So when she got shot she was holding him and she fell on him, so that’s why he broke some of his bones. So he pretty much lived because she gave her life.”

Anchondo was shopping for back to school supplies when the shooting took place. Jamrowski has been hoping to hear back from her brother-in-law, Andre Anchondo, suspecting that he could have been injured or killed in the shooting. “They said that if he were alive, more than likely he would have gotten in contact by now,” she added.

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen has told reporters that the shooter’s manifesto indicated it could have been a hate crime. El Paso sits across the border of Mexico, and among the dead was three Mexicans. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president, tweeted his condolences to the families of victims “both American and Mexican.”