The leaders of another Texas county have declared an invasion after the county judge’s family members were killed by a human smuggler.
This Christmas was “the first Christmas without them. It is very difficult. We’re getting through it one day at a time,” Crockett County Judge Francisco “Frank” Tambunga said of his sister-in-law and her granddaughter.
“You look at things differently now,” he told The Center Square.
Tambunga, who has deep ties to the community, was a county commissioner for 30 years. He was elected judge in November 2022 and took office in January 2023.
Two months later, tragedy struck his family. On March 13, his sister-in-law, 70-year-old Maria Tambunga, and her 7-year-old granddaughter, Emilia, were killed in a head-on collision by a human smuggler. Emelia loved karate and was a green belt, he said.
