Parents of Slain Girl, 10, Recount Terror After Learning of Texas School Shooting: 'We Couldn't Find Her'

On the day she died, Lexi Rubio made the school's honor roll and also won the Good Citizen award at Robb Elementary School

Kimberly Rubio, Lexi Rubio, Felix Rubio. Photo: facebook

On Tuesday morning, Kimberly Rubio told her daughter to fix her hair in preparation for an awards ceremony at school.

Alexandria Aniyah "Lexi" Rubio, made the school's honor roll and also won the Good Citizen award at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Both her parents attended the ceremony after they attended an honor roll ceremony for their second-grade son, Julian.

Normally, Lexi asks to go home after the awards ceremony, but this year, she didn't mention it — and the 4th grader returned to her classroom. Her parents kissed her goodbye, told her they loved her and that her grandmother would take her out for ice cream to celebrate after school.

Kimberly, a reporter for the Uvalde Leader-News, went to work — there she heard commotion on the police scanner in the newsroom. She immediately texted her husband, a sheriff's deputy. He was off work that day, but he put on his uniform and went to the school.

"It was just so bad. We couldn't find her," remembers Kimberly, 33. "Bus after bus, we looked for her, and she didn't come out. And the people in the room just kept getting smaller and smaller. We checked the hospitals."

Lexi Rubio. Courtesy Felix Rubio

Hours later, the couple learned that their daughter was one of the 19 students, along with two teachers, killed by an 18-year-old shooter.

For more on the shooting massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"We got informed that our baby girl is not here with us anymore," says Lexi's father, Felix Rubio, 35. "Our baby girl was taken from us."

Lexi loved playing softball and basketball, and looked forward to playing volleyball in seventh grade. While her parents were waiting to learn what had happened to Lexi, they received a text that she made the her softball all-star team.

Lexi Rubio. Courtesy Felix Rubio

Lexi Rubio. Courtesy Felix Rubio

"Lexi was going to be somebody," Felix says. "She was going to do something."

Her mother is a student studying history at St Mary's in San Antonio. Lexi wanted to go to law school there.

"She was really smart, very driven," Kimberly says. "She knew what she wanted, and when she wanted something, she went out and got it."

Her parents say Lexi loved TikTok, pasta with Alfredo sauce and trips to Starbucks.

"I think 10 years isn't enough," Kimberly says. "It shouldn't have happened."

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up in Lexi's honor.

The school district in Uvalde has opened an official account with First State Bank of Uvalde to support Robb Elementary families affected by the tragedy. People can send checks through the mail (payable to the "Robb School Memorial Fund") or donate money through Zelle to [e-mail]. People can also donate by calling 830-356-2273.