In the border town of El Paso, Texas, a shooter opened fire and left 22 people dead and more than two dozen injured. Hours later in Dayton, Ohio, a shooter killed 9 people and injured at least 27 others.
Here are some of their stories:
JORDAN ANCHONDO: 'GAVE HER LIFE' FOR HER BABY
Jordan Anchondo was among those killed in El Paso, Anchondo's sister said, and she apparently died while protecting her 2-month-old son from the hail of bullets.
Leta Jamrowski of El Paso spoke to The Associated Press as she paced a waiting room at the University Medical Center of El Paso, where her 2-month-old nephew was being treated for broken bones — the result of his mother's fall.
"From the baby's injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him," she said. "So when she got shot she was holding him and she fell on him, so that's why he broke some of his bones. So he pretty much lived because she gave her life."
Jordan, a mother of three, and Andre Anchondo had dropped off her 5-year old daughter at cheerleading practice before going to shop for school supplies on Saturday at a Walmart in El Paso. They never returned.
ANDRE ANCHONDO: HAD TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND
Andre Anchondo — the husband of Jordan Anchondo, who was also killed in El Paso — had recently turned his life around after struggles with drug dependence and run-ins with the law, a friend recalled.
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On Sunday night, John Jamrowski, a relative, said in a text message that his family has been notified of the death of Andre Anchondo.
The death of Jordan Anchondo was confirmed in the hours after the attack, but the family agonized as investigators waited to confirm more than a dozen other deaths.
Koteiba "Koti" Azzam, a friend of Andre Anchondo, had fond memories of him.
"I love the guy," Azzam said in a phone interview from San Marcos, Texas, where he attends Texas State University. "He had the character and the charisma."
Azzam said Andre Anchondo had started a business in El Paso, building things from granite and stone, and made it successful through hard work. He also was on the verge of completing a home for his family.
"It makes you question your faith almost," said Azzam, who is Muslim. "But God didn't have a part in it. The hands of man altered my friend's life in a drastic way."
ARTURO BENAVIDES: EASYGOING ARMY VETERAN
Arturo Benavides, a U.S. Army veteran who retired as a bus driver a few years ago, was checking out at the Walmart store when the gunman entered.
His niece, Jacklin Luna, told the Los Angeles Times that 60-year-old Benavides was among those killed. His wife, Patricia, was sitting on a nearby bench and was pushed into a bathroom for safety, Luna said.
Benavides, who was born and raised in El Paso, had worked as a bus driver for El Paso's Sun Metro.
"I spent my childhood waking up at their house, sitting out on the front porch with him on Sunday mornings, listening to the oldies on the radio," said Luna, who described him as kind and generous.
His nephew, Ruben Rojas, said Benavides was an "easygoing" man who enjoyed watching sports and was also a good Roman Catholic who went to Mass.
JESSICA COCA GARCIA and MEMO GARCIA: FUNDRAISING FOR KIDS' SPORTS TEAM
Jessica Coca Garcia and Memo Garcia were at the Walmart in El Paso to raise funds for a youth sports team one of their children played on when a gunman opened fire, wounding them, a relative says.
Norma Coca told Wichita, Kansas-television station KWCH that her daughter and son-in-law were near the front doors of the Walmart when they were shot.
Coca, who lives in Salina, Kansas, said her daughter, Jessica Coca Garcia, was shot three times in the leg. She says her son-in-law, Memo Garcia, was shot twice in the leg and once in the back. She said her daughter was in stable condition and her son-in-law was in critical condition.
Jessica Coca Garcia's father, Don Coca, said they have family in the El Paso area who were able to be with the couple. Don Coca says: "She was just crying ... I told her that our prayers are there and we're on our way."
The couple's 5-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were also at the Walmart and were not shot.
IVAN MANZANO: A FRIENDLY AND PRACTICAL MAN
Ivan Manzano, who had a 5-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, was from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and ran a business that supplies orthopedic implants.
His wife, Adriana Manzano, learned from the FBI that he was killed in the shooting in the Walmart. She traveled to the Mexican consulate in El Paso on Monday to repatriate her husband's body, and said he was known by everyone as friendly, calm — "very practical."
Adriana Manzano said she has told her children only that their father had died in an "accident," believing that giving a full explanation might generate resentments.
MARIO DE ALBA: A WOUNDED FATHER
Mario de Alba, 45, had come to El Paso with his family from Mexico to go shopping.
Described by his sister Cristina de Alba as an "excellent father" and as a "decent, hardworking person," he was in serious condition Sunday after being shot in the back, the bullet exiting via his diaphragm.
His wife, Olivia Mariscal, and 10-year-old daughter Erika both appear to be recovering after also being wounded, de Alba said from the El Paso hospital where her brother is being treated.
The family lives in Chihuahua, Mexico -- a four-hour drive south of El Paso -- and was buying school supplies in the Texas city. El Paso is a popular shopping destination for people who live in northern Mexico.
Mario de Alba's Facebook page shows him as a devoted father to Erika.
In one picture, taken in a living room, Erika cups her hand in the shape of a heart in front of an entertainment center. On the shelves behind her are the words FAMILY and PEACE in bold letters.
DAVID JOHNSON: TRIED TO PROTECT WIFE, GRANDDAUGHTER
David Johnson, 63, was back-to-school shopping with his wife and 9-year-old granddaughter when he was killed, relatives said.
Johnson's nephew, Dominic Patridge, said in a statement to KVIA-TV that his aunt heard gunshots while checking out. Johnson told her and his granddaughter to "get down and if anything happened to him" to run to the store next door, he said.
"The next thing she knew, he was on the ground covered in blood," he said. Patridge said his aunt then played dead and shielded her granddaughter as the shooter walked past.
Patridge called his uncle "the kindest and most giving individual I've ever known."
MEXICAN GOVERNMENT IDENTIFIES CITIZENS KILLED IN EL PASO
Mexico's Foreign Ministry also identified eight citizens who were killed in the shooting Saturday in a shopping complex in El Paso. The ministry did not immediately provide ages or more information. Those victims are: Sara Esther Regalado of Cuidad Juarez; Adolfo Cerros Hernández of Aguascalientes; Jorge Calvillo García of Torreón; Elsa Mendoza de la Mora of Yepomera; Gloria Irma Márquez of Juárez; María Eugenia Legarreta Rothe, originally of Chihuahua; Juan de Dios Velázquez Chairez, of Zacatecas; and Ivan Manzano of Ciudad Juárez.
NICHOLAS CUMER: HAD HELPED CANCER PATIENTS
A graduate student at a university in Pennsylvania who was interning with a Dayton facility for people battling cancer was among those killed in the Ohio city early Sunday.
Nicholas Cumer was a graduate student in the master of cancer care program at Saint Francis University.
"Nicholas was dedicated to caring for others," university President Malachi Van Tassell said in a statement. The university, in Loretto, Pennsylvania, is the oldest Franciscan institution of higher learning in the United States.
The family released the following statement through a relative: "We are heartbroken by the loss of our Nicholas in this senseless act on August 4. As our family grieves, we ask for privacy at this time. Thank you."
Cumer had been in Dayton as part of his internship program with the Maple Tree Cancer Alliance, which strives to improve the quality of life for individuals battling cancer through exercise, nutrition, and faith.
Maple Tree Cancer Alliance offered Cumer a full-time position just days before he was killed, the organization said on its website. It described Cumer as hard-working, dedicated and one week away from completing his internship.
"He was well liked and respected by everyone on our team, and we all will miss him very much," the organization said.
Van Tassell said a Mass in Cumer's memory will be arranged on campus this week.
LOIS OGLESBY: A NURSING STUDENT WHO WANTED TO CARE FOR CHILDREN
Lois Oglesby, 27, was in nursing school and looked forward to a career that would make the most of her love for children, her cousin said. She was also the mother of a newborn and had an older daughter.
Derasha Merrett told the Dayton Daily News that she was up feeding her own newborn when a friend called her at 3 a.m. Sunday to tell her, through sobs, that Oglesby had died in the Dayton shooting.
"She was a wonderful mother, a wonderful person," Merrett said. "I have cried so much, I can't cry anymore."
Merrett said she and her cousin grew up in the same church, were on the same drill team and that Oglesby worked at her children's day care center.
"We all grew up in this little town, Merrett said. "We're all family."
LOGAN TURNER: 'GENEROUS AND LOVING,' HAD JUST TURNED 30
Just days past his 30th birthday, Logan Turner was "very generous and loving and the world's best son," mother Danita Turner told the Dayton Daily News.
"Everyone loved Logan," she said. "He was a happy-go-lucky guy."
Turner said her son was out with a few friends when he was shot just outside a bar in Dayton's historic Oregon District.
Turner had a degree from Sinclair Community College and went on to earn an engineering degree from the University of Toledo, his mother said. He also attended Wright State University for a while, according to Seth Bauguess, spokesman for the university in Dayton.
Turner's mother said he had recently started working as a machinist at a company in Springboro.
SAEED SALEH: IMMIGRANT FROM AFRICA, FATHER OF THREE
A native of East Africa who moved to the United States a few years ago, Ohio shooting victim Saeed Saleh was remembered as a "humble and quiet person" by a spokesman for his family.
Yahya Khamis, president of the Sudanese Community of Dayton, said Monday that he was speaking on behalf of Saleh's family and coordinating funeral plans for the 38-year-old. Khamis said he didn't know Saleh well but called him kindhearted.
"He was a very good guy," Khamis said.
A father of three, Saleh was originally from Eritrea in East Africa and later lived in Sudan before immigrating to the United States a few years ago, he said.
He said Saleh's friends and family were thankful for the support they had received from the Dayton community.
DERRICK R. FUDGE, 57
Fudge was spending time with family when he was shot, his sister told the Dayton Daily News. "They were all just down there enjoying themselves and had stepped out of, I think, one of the clubs and were in a line to get some food," Twyla Southall told the newspaper.
THOMAS J. McNICHOLS: FATHER OF FOUR, A 'GENTLE GIANT'
McNichols, whose nickname was "TeeJay," was a father of four and a "gentle giant," his aunt told the Dayton Daily News. "Everybody loves him. He was like a big kid," Donna Johnson told the newspaper. "When all of the movies come out — Batman, 'Black Panther' — he would get all his nephews and take them to the movies."
MEGAN BETTS: GUNMAN'S SISTER WAS ARTISTIC, POLITE
A classmate remembered Ohio shooting victim Megan Betts, the sister of the gunman, as "artistic, polite" and someone who "loved going to band class."
Addison Brickler, 23, rode the bus to school with Connor and Megan Betts. Megan would sit with her friend on the bus every day, Brickler said.
"She always had a smile on her face," Brickler said.
"It's harder for me to wrap my head around why he would do this to someone, his sister."
AP reporters Jamie Stengle, Andrew Selsky, Lisa Cornwell and Becky Bohrer contributed to this report.
