Kriti Mehrotra
It was May 24, 2022, when everything turned upside down for the community of Uvalde, Texas, as a gunman opened fire inside Robb Elementary School and killed 19 students, plus two teachers. Amongst them was 10-year-old Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, as carefully explored in ABC’s ‘Print it Black,’ whose parents Kimberly and Felix have since been doing all they can to spark change. The truth is all 21 victims’ families are now advocating for gun reform while processing their unimaginable loss, yet it is this couple — the matriarch, in particular — that has been most vocal.
Who Are Kimberly and Felix Rubio?
It was reportedly back around 2008 when Kimberly Mata first came across Felix Rubio, only for them to soon fall head over heels in love, blissfully commit, and start a beautiful blended family. They actually tied the knot on August 3, 2009, before settling into a good place in their hometown of Uvalde, Texas — thanks to both of them working full-time — but things weren’t ideal. They were barely making ends meet with their six kids despite her being a reporter at the twice-weekly Uvalde Leader-News and his dream job as a patrol deputy at the County Sheriff’s Office.
As per Kimberly’s own account, they were living paycheck to paycheck for years before they realized they needed to do more if they wished to provide their children with better opportunities. She, thus, quit her job in 2019 to pursue a Bachelor’s in History from St. Mary’s University in the hopes it would help her land a desk position at the FBI or open up other doors outside Texas. “I almost would have taken anything,” she once somberly, candidly told Time Magazine. “Whatever, just to get my kids out of Uvalde, experience something different. It was important to me.”
The truth is that the Rubios were already thinking of moving to Washington State or someplace cold; they were only waiting for Kimberly to graduate, but alas, everything changed in May 2022. The family lost their youngest member, 10-year-old Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, in the Robb Elementary School mass shooting carried out by 18-year-old former student Salvador Ramos. It was almost immediately following this the parents knew deep in their hearts their life trajectory had altered for good — now, they’ll never leave Uvalde because their daughter is buried there.
Kimberly and Felix then also gradually began understanding their grief was such that they’d never have any sense of normalcy or be the same again, driving them to begin their quest for true justice. In fact, in the matriarch’s first public testimony on gun violence, she’d stated, “[My daughter] was firm, direct, voice unwavering… So today we stand for Lexi and as her voice we demand action.” Then, although she’d never even been on a plane prior to the shooting, she began making frequent trips to Washington to participate in marches and pressure lawmakers to pass firearm restrictions.
As if all this wasn’t enough, upon learning the police had waited over an hour before even engaging with the shooter on the fateful day, Kimberly and Felix also began asking for answers from them. They sadly never got exactly what they wanted — their daughter to come back, a ban on assault weapons, and complete police accountability — but they did see some modifications with time. Nevertheless, by mid-2023, the former had graduated from university before deciding to give up journalism altogether, whereas her husband had also quit his job at the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office.
Kimberly and Felix Rubio Are Keeping Their Daughter’s Memories Alive
Despite Kimberly’s loss, personal grief, as well as anger with the overall community for not standing beside the victims’ families more in the initial few months, she chose to run for mayor in 2023. In an interview with ABC’s ‘GMA3,’ she conceded she chose to go down this path after careful consideration so as to not only honor her late daughter’s legacy but also “be the change I seek.” She added, “Right now, after fighting at the federal and state level, I think it starts on the ground up and in my own community… I think it gives me a chance to share my story first with my community and changing their minds and hearts. Once they really hear and resonate with my story.”
Furthermore, Kimberly wanted to set an example for her remaining five children while also making things better for them — she told ABC News, “My other children are going to grow up in this community and I want it to be the best it can be for them. There is so much potential. There are things I love about Uvalde — so much history and a rich culture — and I don’t want this town to stay where it is and just be remembered for this tragedy. I want to move forward but I want to bring along our children and those two teachers.”
But alas, Kimberly lost her bid to become Uvalde’s new mayor to Cody Smith, who previously already held the position, by a nearly two-thirds majority, meaning she got just 33% of the votes. Therefore, today, she continues to serve in the ad sales department of the now once-a-week Uvalde Leader-News newspaper and is seemingly planning to pursue a law degree in the hopes of sparking more change. As for Felix, it appears as if he prefers to remain well away from the limelight these days, all the while still being a devoted husband and father — it’s honestly evident both their primary goals at the moment is to keep Lexi’s memories alive as well as focus on their remaining kids.
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