SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Puerto Rican relatives of one of the 20 children killed at an elementary school in Connecticut say the family of a 6-year-old girl who was shot had just moved to the U.S. two months before the shooting.
The grandmother of Ana Grace Marquez says her family had moved from Canada to Connecticut and enrolled the girl at Sandy Hook Elementary School because of its solid reputation.
Ana’s father, Jimmy Greene, was a lecturer at the Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba before recently moving back to Connecticut. Greene, his wife and two children lived in Winnipeg for a couple of years. Both children were enrolled at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Elba Marquez told The Associated Press late Friday that the family had moved because the girl's mother had been hired to teach at a local university.
Elba Marquez's brother, Jorge Marquez, said Ana Grace had a 9-year-old brother who was at the school during the shooting Friday but was not injured.
The family flew from Puerto Rico to Connecticut Saturday for the girl's funeral.
Linden Christian School released a statement late Friday asking the community to “uphold the Marquez-Greene family, as well as the many individuals impacted by the tragedy, in prayer”. The statement goes on to say the family “thanks everyone for their prayer support and know Ana is with Jesus."
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.