UVALDE, Texas (KNX) – As funerals have started for the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a public effort is underway to help an incarcerated father attend his daughter's funeral.
Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, was one of the 19 children killed in last week’s shooting. According to San Antonio reporter Lidia Terrazas, Torres’ father, 46-year-old Eli Torres, was denied a request for compassionate release to attend his daughter’s funeral.
Torres is currently serving time for drug trafficking and conspiracy at McCreary United States Penitentiary in Kentucky, the Lexington Herald Leader reported. He was convicted and sentenced in Del Rio, Texas in 2013.
In an interview with The Houston Chronicle, Torres, who said he got the news Friday that his request was denied, reflected on how his past choices cost him.
"The choices I made, it cost me,” he said. “I could have prevented this from happening, somehow, some way, as a father. … I could have stopped it somehow. Protected her.”
Kentucky State Representative Attica Scott publicly advocated for Torres’ release, even writing a letter to President Joe Biden and Governor Andy Beshear asking for their help.
“(Torres’) family said that Eliahana and her father were only one week away from having physical contact with each other before the shooting took place,” Scott wrote.
“If Eliahana’s father’s rehabilitation record and behavior as an inmate would merit, this family would greatly appreciate him to be able to unite with them as they mourn the loss of their family member, Eliahana Cruz Torres.”
Scott Taylor, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, told the Lexington Herald Leader, “For privacy, safety, and security reasons, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) does not provide information on any individual inmate’s conditions of confinement to include compassionate release requests or a request for temporary release.”
Torres’ story made waves on social media, and even garnered the attention of Kim Kardashian, who shared the situation with her 72.5 million followers on Twitter on Thursday.
“I ask the @officialFBOP to grant Eli Torres temporary release so that he can say his last goodbye to his baby girl,” she said. “Every parent deserves that right.”
Terrazas, who shared Kardashian’s tweet, confirmed Kardashian and her team reached out and offered to help, adding that “Ellie’s family is willing to delay the funeral if her dad is released on furlough.”
Torres’ funeral was scheduled for Thursday.
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