A ۷۷-year-old Walmart shopper died after he was allegedly attacked inside a Virginia store by the parents of a teenage employee he had confronted over a shopping cart incident involving his wife, according to US media reports.
Bert Atienza died from blunt head trauma on ۸ June, one day after the attack at the Walmart in Norfolk, Virginia, WTKR reported on Monday. The shocking incident was captured on surveillance video.
Police responded to the store at about ۳.۲۰pm on ۷ June after receiving a report of an assault.
Atienza’s wife, Josephine, was left on the floor holding her injured husband in her lap after the attack, according to video from the scene.
“My husband was still able to speak, he said, ‘Help me get up,’ but I told him, ‘No, you’re bleeding. Your mouth is bleeding. Ambulance is coming,” Josephine said. “I look at him again. He has no more consciousness.”
Atienza was found unresponsive and taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries the following day. Medical officials ruled his death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma.
The confrontation began while Atienza and his wife of ۴۲ years were grocery-shopping after spending the morning at church.
Josephine said a ۱۷-year-old Walmart employee came quickly down the aisle where the couple was shopping and nearly struck her with a shopping cart. Atienza and the unidentified worker exchanged words before the employee allegedly threw a can toward the couple as they walked away, Josephine told WTKR.
The teen then reportedly called her parents, Travis White and Erika Mitchell, who began looking for the couple inside the store minutes later. The store surveillance video shows what appears to be Atienza looking at items on a shelf when White and Mitchell approached and attacked him while their daughter watched.
The elderly shopper was allegedly shoved from behind, grabbed and punched as people nearby walked away. He was then pushed into a shelving unit and fell to the floor, where one of the suspects allegedly kicked him.
White, ۴۴, and Mitchell, ۴۲, were arrested days later and are being held without bond in the Norfolk jail.
Their teenage daughter was also charged with assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding, and conspiracy to commit a felony, according to WAVY. She is being held at the Norfolk juvenile detention center. Authorities have not released her name because she is a minor.
