The pain of the shootings is heard before the US Congress. 1:14
(CNN) --
Josh Tello wouldn't have to raise Rosalina as a single parent.
Next to him should be Laura Buendia, his girlfriend for nine years.
They started dating as teenagers after he showed up at her Saginaw, Michigan home with flowers, making her blush.
They lay on the trampoline for hours, "talking about everything and bonding."
Tello was scheduled to propose to her next week in Chicago, atop a downtown skyscraper.
He was still brainstorming with cousins and friends before two bullets killed Buendia on another extraordinarily violent weekend in the United States.
She now has a partially filled baby registry and a GoFundMe for funerals left.
Early on June 5, after a dispute at a family barbecue, Buendia - 29 weeks pregnant - was shot in her mother's yard, along with her 24-year-old nephew Mariano Escareño and her cousin Rafa Campos. , 24. Two other people were injured.
Buendia, 24, couldn't wait to be a mother.
Rosalina was going to be born in August, and Buendia had already chosen the color for her room, purple, and had chosen objects from her favorite cartoon, "Lilo & Stitch."
Buendia hoped that Rosalina loved the mischievous blue alien as much as she did.
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"She was very loving. She was very anxious to meet her daughter. When we went to the ultrasounds, hearing her daughter and seeing her gave her joy and comfort every day. I know she was going to be a wonderful mother," said Tello, 26. .
Buendia's cousin and nephew died at the scene.
Buendia was taken to the hospital, where the doctors were able to give birth to Rosalina, but could not save her mother.
Mass shootings in the US are about to reach last year's level, the worst on record, according to data from the Archive of Gun Violence
Even by recent American standards, this past weekend was extraordinary.
At least 16 people have been killed and dozens injured in 13 mass shootings as the nation reels from attacks at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, a school in Uvalde, Texas, and a medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
None of the shootings made big headlines.
In almost every case, the victims were doing normal things: attending barbecues, celebrating graduations, enjoying a night out at a bar, taking a ride on a bus...things one shouldn't have to watch while doing them.
In the hospital, Tello remembers the agonizing wait for news.
He prayed that mother and daughter were okay, but no.
He imagines the mixed feelings that washed over the new father: shattered by the loss of the love of his life, relieved that his daughter survived.
Josh Tello has been visiting his daughter, Rosalina, in the hospital every day this week.
"It really gave me joy and a little bit of comfort, knowing that Laura is going to continue to live in our baby and that she is going to watch over us," she said.
He has visited the hospital every day and brings Rosalina photos of her mother.
Despite her being 11 weeks premature, she is doing well.
She is growing up.
Tello marvels at the little girl's grip.
He likes to grab her feet.
She has them long and she has a lot of hair, dark like her parents'.
When he is older, he will tell her about her mother.
"How we started dating, how we started talking. She always liked to bake and see others smile. She was very sweet and kind. Family was everything to her, so I'm going to teach her the way of family too." , he claimed.
It started with five shootings overnight
Gun violence has marked 2022, which could be the country's worst year, according to experts, with more than 250 mass shootings so far this year, roughly one every 15 hours.
Even in that light, June 3-5 were remarkable.
On June 3, the Buendias were mourning the loss of their grandmother, Maria Teresa Galindo, who had always been a protector of Laura Buendia, the family says.
She had passed away nine days earlier.
Tello remembers that Buendia lamented that "her grandmother was not going to see the baby," he said.
Laura Buendia was very excited to be a mother, her family says.
"He talked about it every day, saying that he always hoped his grandmother would hold our baby and take care of him," she said.
But after Galindo's death, Laura cried not only for her own loss, but also for Rosalina's: no hugs, no kisses, no gifts.
"Her grandmother took care of Laura all the time when she was little. She was like her second mother," says Tello.
It's not that Laura Buendia hadn't consented to Rosalina.
A generous soul, she pampered everyone.
She couldn't leave Diego, Tello's husky-golden retriever mix, for a few hours without stopping to give him a treat or a toy.
She would take him for car rides, just so she could stick her head out the window, Tello says.
After high school, she wanted to be a veterinarian, Tello says, but once she honed her baking skills in college, she set out to perfect the craft and own a bakery.
"I had a lot of goals in life," he says.
"I know I would have caught them."
The Friday before lunch, Teresa Buendia, Laura's cousin, was at her home in Bay City, north of Saginaw, when Escareño, another cousin, and Campos, her brother, showed up.
They had brought food and, as always, jokes.
They ate and shared, and talked about making her grandmother proud, oblivious to the violence that was about to unleash, not only in their lives, but throughout the country.
From left to right, Rafael Campos, Laura Buendia and Mariano Escareño, who were always together, say relatives.
It started that night, more than 700 miles away, in Chesterfield, Virginia.
The shots ripped through a graduation party, killing a 20-year-old and wounding seven others, CNN affiliate WWBT reported.
In the next six hours, gunmen carried out four more mass shootings, CNN affiliates reported:
A 31-year-old man was killed and three people were injured near an apartment complex in Omaha, Nebraska, KMTV reported;
A party bus was "ambushed" in Ecorse, Michigan, leaving five injured, Ecorse Deputy Police Chief Jerry Flowers told CNN;
Another prom party was attacked in Socorro, Texas, injuring five teenagers, KVIA reported.
A possible fight at a party in a shopping center in Phoenix, Arizona, led to a shooting that killed a 14-year-old girl and injured eight other people, KPHO reported.
With so much violence rocking the country, the shootings barely made the national news, even though Phoenix had seen multiple killings in recent days.
The mall attack came days after a shooting at another party killed an 18-year-old and wounded five teenagers.
It also came hours after 15-year-old Damarkus Edison was fatally shot outside his home a few blocks from the mall, KNXV reported.
When Meagan Orantes' daughter informed him that Damarkus had been killed, Orantes took his 14-year-old son to the scene to learn more about his friend.
Orantes couldn't help but think of Damarkus's mother.
She also lost a teenage son to gun violence in 2020 and knows Damarkus' mother's pain.
"(Damarkus) was a very happy and funny young man," he said.
"He had his whole life ahead of him. He was in school. He was doing what he had to do at 15."
Try to help the teenager's mother, "doing everything in my power to help this other mother who lost her son and doesn't know which way to go, what to do (...). When you lose a son, you don't you know which way to go."
Devastated second graders
After overnight violence, the nation witnessed a brief respite Saturday in mass shootings.
There were still shootings - 246 people are shot every day in the United States, according to the Brady Campaign -, just none with four or more victims.
That was until around 7 pm (Miami time), a shooting at an abandoned house in Macon, Georgia, left a teenager dead and three wounded, CNN affiliate WSB reported.
One of the fondest memories that Teresa Buendia keeps of her cousin, Laura (on the right), will be the last time they spoke.
Meanwhile, in Saginaw, the barbecue had just gotten underway.
It started out as a small gathering, just a few friends, but word got out.
Many neighbors are like family.
They came closer.
Laura's mother called Teresa Buendia around 8 at night to tell her that she hadn't planned a party, but that everyone was already there, so come on.
Food is important to the Buendias.
Laura has been awarded for her work in confectionery.
She worked in an artisan bakery and pastry shop and often came in with delicacies from the bakery or her own kitchen.
Rafa Campos prides himself on her grilling skills, and the Buendias regularly host barbecues, especially in the summer.
As Campos and Laura's father prepared a feast of hot dogs, ribs and pork chops, the violence increased again:
In Hempstead, New York, a 19-year-old was killed and three others were injured in a residential area on Long Island, according to police;
Gunmen in two cars fired 60 to 70 bullets at a prom outside Summerton, South Carolina, killing a mother of five and wounding several teenagers, according to police;
Multiple attackers killed three people and wounded 11 in a popular Philadelphia entertainment district, police said.
Kristopher Minners was celebrating his 22nd birthday when he was shot to death.
Among the Philadelphia victims was Kristopher Minners, who worked with second and sixth graders at Girard College, a boarding school for low-income families.
He was celebrating his 22nd birthday.The college said he had done an "incredible job" and that he was "a vital member of our community."
Minners had a good heart and a bright future, Richard Perdomo told CNN affiliate WPVI.
Perdomo taught Minners at Girard.
They became friends when Minners returned this year as a residential counselor.
"We saw their second graders today at breakfast, and this is devastating them," Perdomo told the station.
"It's hard enough for the staff, but for the little ones, they're trying to figure it out."
Audrionna King, a mother of five in South Carolina, was also well-liked, says her cousin Alonso Felder.
She had a 3-month-old baby, as well as children ages 12, 9, 7, and 1.
Felder regrets that the little ones grow up without knowing her mother.
The attackers, he said, are "monstrous and direct animals."
Audrionna "Tutu" King died the day after she was shot, leaving behind five children.
"He had a big heart ... He was a confident person with a pure heart," he said, adding later in a Facebook message: "A life has been taken, and the lives of innocent children/adults They will never be the same."
"I just heard shots"
As the Saginaw barbecue continued into Sunday, Teresa and Laura Buendia chatted in the dining room with Laura's mother.
Laura had taken off her shoes and her mother and her cousin were making fun of her stinky feet.
They laughed and talked about the baby as Laura shared photos.
"I think Saturday night when I was able to talk to her and see the ultrasound pictures and touch the baby and all that will probably be my favorite memory forever," Teresa said.
Teresa offered to take Laura home, but she refused.
Tello would pick her up.
She had been to the party before, but she had gone to celebrate a cousin's engagement.
Laura Buendia, Mariano Escareño and Rafa Campos were 24 years old, and Laura and Mariano were born a month apart.
Around 2 a.m., a dispute outside escalated.
Laura, Mariano Escareño and Rafa Campos were not fans of the drama, so Laura's sister, Sandra Escareño, 34, told everyone to go to bed.
The party broke up and Sandra accompanied two relatives to her house, she says.
Laura, Mariano Escareño and Campos were always together.
Laura and Mariano were born a month apart and had always been more siblings than aunt and nephew.
When Sandra Escareño returned from her relatives' house, she found them in the patio cleaning.
"I went into the house and when the door closed behind me and I took two steps, I heard shots and I ran," he recalls.
"I saw Laura and Rafa on the ground. I didn't know anything about Mariano until the police arrived. I didn't know he was between the houses."
Tello received a creepy phone call.
"I was in shock. I was shaking. I was sad and angry. A lot of guilt. I should have been there," he said.
The weekend violence continued.
Minutes later, gunmen killed two people in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to police.
A third was fatally hit by a car while he was fleeing.
Fourteen other people were injured.
Later Sunday morning, a shooting outside a Mesa, Arizona bar killed two men, ages 23 and 25, and wounded two others, KNXV reported.
The spate of shootings has intensified questions about the safety of everyday life in the United States, but Buendia's family has other questions.
Who is going to teach Sandra Escareño's daughters to make cakes if Laura is not there?
Who is going to watch movies with her children and teach them to play video games if her cousin Mariano is not there?
Who is going to make the family have fun if Campos isn't cracking jokes and making fun of himself?
Sandra Escareño (on the left) saw her sister cleaning up outside just before the shots rang out.
Two questions plagued Sandra Escareño as she spoke to CNN four days after losing her sister, nephew and cousin.
"If I hadn't gone in, they would have killed me too, for sure. And to think that my three children, what would they have done? They have their father, but just imagine already losing those three loved ones plus another. It's like, I don't know And then I think to myself, if I had been there, if I could have prevented it or something...”
She paused, pondering things a sister should never do.
She concluded, "I don't think she's fully assimilated it."
The three would be veiled this Sunday.
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