Misti Jamrowski lost her daughter Jordan Anchondo, 24, and son-in-law Andre Anchondo, 23, in the deadly attack that took the lives of 22 people at a Walmart in the Texas city.
Both parents died attempting to protect their two-month-old baby, Paul, who survived.
Skylin Jamrowski and her sister Victoria, Jordan’s children from a previous relationship to who Andre was a stepfather, were not at the Walmart during the shooting.
Patrick Crusius, 21, is the suspect charged with capital murder over the shooting, which is under investigation as an act of domestic terror.
He is thought to be the author of a white nationalist manifesto posted online shortly before the attack which railed against Hispanic migrants.
“Is he going to come and shoot me?” 5-year-old Skylin asked her grandmother after the shooting, CNN reported.
Despite the killings, Misti Jamrowski is drawing on her faith to forgive Crusius for what he is alleged to have done.
“We forgive him. We honestly forgive him,” Jamrowski told CNN. “We pray for him. We hope that he finds God because God teaches you to be loving.”
It is a message shared by Gilbert Anchondo, Andre’s father. It was not until several hours after the shooting that the father learned what had happened to his son.
“The aggressor could be my son,” Anchondo told BBC News. “I forgive him because he was not in his senses. He had the devil inside of him. I’m a great believer and I forgive what he did.”
The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates which states ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines.
The family were preparing for a party the evening of the shooting to celebrate Skylin’s birthday and the Anchondos’ wedding anniversary.
The elder Anchondo said he saw his son and daughter-in-law leaving their house that morning as he drove past.
“I have a regret—I didn’t stop and give him a hug, a blessing and a kiss,” he told the BBC. “But I saw them happy. I didn’t want to bother them, burst the bubble of happiness.”
The El Paso victims were mostly Hispanic. Dozens of people who survived were injured and some remain in the hospital.
In the manifesto, the anti-migrant language was similar to that used by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has referred to undocumented migrants as an “invasion.”
President Trump is set to visit El Paso on Wednesday afternoon. Some of the shooting’s victims told Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat, that they do not want Trump to come there.