“We take it day by day”: McGregor family looks back on past year after shooting kills five

MCGREGOR, Texas (KWTX) - Friday marks one year since a man shot and killed five people in a McGregor neighborhood, two of them were students at the high school.

And two of them were Natalie Aviles, a recent graduate from McGregor High, and her mother Lori Aviles.

Renee Flores, Lori’s sister-in-law and Natalie’s aunt, met with KWTX outside of her church because she says that her faith is what has pulled her through the trenches.

It has been a year of firsts, birthdays, holidays, memories, all missing roots to their family tree but she says through every low they have their faith and their community.

“We trust in the Lord, even when we don’t understand, we trust in the Lord,” Flores says.

As the sun set over Bethlehem Christian Church, Flores reflected on this last year without Lori and Natalie.

“A lot of changes have happened since they’ve been gone. It can just be all of a sudden and you start to think about something and you start to remember. We take it day by day, that’s all we can do,” she says.

Lori left behind two sons, and Natalie’s two brother. Flores says healing has been an uphill battle with them having lost their mother and sister, she says she know the pain has to be one hundred time worse for them.

But through the trials, she adds that their small town hasn’t missed the chance to remember Lori and Natalie and help their boys.

“McGregor is an awesome place. The community has done fundraisers, the sheriff’s office did something special for them for Christmas,” Flores says with a smile.

Flores says the support has helped them through tremendously, but she is still working to find comfort in living in a world without her loved ones.

“There’s a hole in our family, a hole in our church,” she says behind tears, “if it wasn’t for Jesus, I don’t know where we’d be.”

A memorial is being held Friday at the Bethlehem Christian Church. They are going to remember Natalie and Lori but the family also really just wants to take the opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who brought some light into their darkness over this past year.

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