Texas school shooting: Meghan Markle visits Uvalde to pay her respects

vt-author-image

By Carina Murphy

Article saved!Article saved!

Meghan Markle made a covert trip to Uvalde, Texas, to offer her condolences to those affected by the devastating school shooting earlier this week.

The ex-royal went privately to visit the site of the attack, Robb Elementary School, where 19 children and two teachers were killed on Tuesday by an 18-year-old gunman.

A spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex told Town & Country that she traveled to Uvalde to "offer her condolences and support in-person to a community experiencing unimaginable grief."

Meghan kept a low profile as she walked through the makeshift memorial, where 21 crosses bearing the names of the 21 victims have been erected outside Uvalde County Courthouse.

She didn't announce that she would be visiting or speak with any members of the press and was accompanied by only one bodyguard as she paid her respects to the victims. The Duchess also dressed down so as not to draw attention to herself, donning a t-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap that partially covered her face.

When she came to the cross for Uziyah Garcia - an eight-year-old who lost her life in the massacre - Meghan stopped to lay a flower at its base. Meanwhile, while in Uvalde she also visited the community center to donate food and drinks for blood drive donors.

Volunteers told BuzzFeed News that Meghan kept her trip so low-key they didn't even recognize her when she arrived.

"I had no idea who she was. She just was carrying on a conversation like her and I knew each other for years," volunteer Gloria Contreras said to the outlet.

"We were just talking about, you know, the situation and what happened what we were doing here. I told her about us giving out water to the people and and feeding them," she added.

wp-image-1263156059 size-full
Credit: Bob Daemmrich / Alamy.

Another volunteer, Georjean Burnell, recalled how the Duchess "just kind of walked in with her crew and started putting ice waters in the bucket with us and laying out chips for the people who were needing snacks before and after donating."

"It's funny, we didn't even know it was her until after she left and now we're so sad. I mean, to be honest, we thought she was our neighbor," he said.

Featured Image Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy