The family of Fort Hood gunman Ivan Lopez is "destroyed" by the news that he killed three people, wounded 16 others and then committed suicide on the tragedy-scarred Army base, a relative told NBC News.
"How is it possible this happened?" asked Margarita Class, who spoke to Lopez's sister Ivanis by phone after he was identified as the shooter in Wednesday's rampage.
"The family is destroyed," she said.
Class, who is Ivanis' sister-in-law, said the close-knit Puerto Rican family was already reeling from the death of their matriarch in November.
“[It] has not been easy for them after the death of their mother,” she said of the Lopez siblings
“My sister-in-law always has been there for us," she added. "This is such a tragedy for her."
Class' husband, Hector Albino, said Ivanis "always said she loved him [Ivan] very much."
On her Facebook page, Ivanis Lopez posted a note saying she was "completely devastated" but could not answer messages.
Ivan Lopez, who was raised in Guayanilla, had been married to a Puerto Rican woman with whom he had two children, but they split.
After he went to the United States he was involved with another woman. It's unclear if that's the same woman who identified herself as his wife at an apartment near the base.