By Canadian Press

Uvalde girl loved to dance, hoped to have viral TikTok video

Jun 13, 2022 | 9:11 AM

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Tess Marie Mata created more than 150 short videos for TikTok and saved them to her mother’s account. Described by her family as bubbly, the 10-year-old loved to dance.

A funeral was being held Monday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church for Tess, one of the victims of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. A gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.

An uncle, Robert Hill, told CNN that Tess wanted to have a video go viral on TikTok, and her family went through the ones she’d created after her death. Her mother, Veronica Mata, posted a 15-second video of her doing a popular dance routine to “No Idea,” a song by rapper and singer Don Toliver. It’s been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Veronica Mata told ABC News that Tess was always dancing.

“She always had the biggest smile ever,” she said.

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Her bedroom had purple walls and a poster of her favorite professional baseball player, Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, The Washington Post reported. Tess played second base on her softball team and played soccer.

Tess also had a container full of dollar bills in her room. Her college-student sister, Faith Mata, told The Post that Tess was saving money so that the family could go back to Disney World after a trip there a few years ago.

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More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting

The Associated Press