Joann Ward and two of her four children were killed in the horrific attack.
Haunting video of a mom who made the ultimate sacrifice has surfaced in the wake of Sunday’s church massacre in Texas.
Joann Ward and her four children can be seen taking their seats at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Spring. The video from last week's service shows 5-year-old Brooke Ward running happily up and down the aisles. She also posed on the preacher's motorcycle.
But a week later, she was among the 26 people killed in the church massacre, along with her older sister, Emily.
Joann Ward also lost her life as she desperately tried to shield the children from the gunshots. Thanks to her bravery, two of her four children survived.
Rihanna, 9, suffered barely a scratch and her brother, Ryland, 5, was shot four times and is currently fighting for his life at a local hospital.
“Rihanna said her mother Joann threw her body over Ryland, Brooke, and Emily,” the children's grandmother, Sandy Ward, told Inside Edition while fighting back tears. “She was a very giving, loving person.”
Another family, the Holcombes, is mourning the loss of eight family members across three generations.
Bryan Holcombe was filling in as pastor. He and his wife, Karla, were high school sweethearts, married 40 years. Their son Danny and his 18-month-old daughter, Noah, perished in the shooting.
Crystal Holcombe, Bryan's daughter-in-law, was eight months pregnant. Her unborn child died, along with three of her five children.
The survivors are have revealed the gunman's chilling words as he opened fire: "Everybody dies!”
"He was looking all around and shooting at everybody, just shooting at everybody,” Roseanne Solis, who was shot in the shoulder, told Inside Edition.
She says she played dead to survive.
