An elderly Walmart shopper was fatally beaten by the parents of a teenage employee after he confronted their daughter for allegedly nearly striking his wife with a shopping cart, according to his widow.
Bert Atienza died from blunt-force head trauma at a hospital on June 8, one day after two people allegedly attacked him inside a Walmart in Norfolk, Virginia, WTKR reported Monday.
“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. The ambulance is coming,’” Atienza’s wife, Josephine, said.
“I looked at him again. He had lost consciousness.”
The 77-year-old had been shopping with his wife of 42 years after attending church that morning when a 17-year-old Walmart employee allegedly sped down their aisle, nearly hitting Josephine with a cart.
“He said, ‘You almost hit my wife with your heavy cart, and you didn’t even say excuse me or apologize to her,’” Josephine Atienza told the outlet.
Josephine described her husband as someone who spoke frankly whenever he saw something he believed was wrong. “He doesn’t care who you are,” she said.
The couple and the unidentified employee exchanged words briefly. As Bert and Josephine walked away, the worker allegedly threw a can in their direction, Josephine said.
The teenager then allegedly called her parents for help. Minutes later, Travis White and Erika Mitchell were reportedly searching for the elderly couple inside the store.
According to surveillance footage obtained by WTKR, Atienza was looking at merchandise in an aisle when White and Mitchell allegedly attacked him, while their daughter watched.
The elderly shopper was allegedly grabbed, punched and shoved from behind as other customers appeared to move away from the confrontation.
He was then pushed into a shelving unit and fell to the floor. One of the suspects allegedly kicked him while he was down.
“They crowded my husband. One of the adults hit him in the face, and he fell to the floor. I was terrified. I didn’t know what was happening,” Josephine said.
“While he was on the floor, they continued kicking him, and I told them to stop. My husband has heart problems,” she added.
Video from the scene showed Josephine sitting on the floor with her injured husband in her lap.
Atienza briefly spoke with his wife but lost consciousness before emergency responders arrived.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.
Medical officials classified his death as a homicide.
White, 44, and Mitchell, 42, were arrested several days later. They were charged with malicious wounding by mob, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony, WAVY reported.
The charges were later increased to second-degree murder, according to court records viewed by The Post.
Their attorney contested the charges, saying the suspected killers were defending their daughter and the alleged assault was not premeditated.
“They did not go there, intending for any of this to happen. It was an emotional situation. Their daughter called them. She was distraught. They went, as any parent would do, to try to make sure that their daughter was safe and then the situation kind of erupted. It was spontaneous almost,” James Broccoletti told WTKR.
“We think that the evidence establishes at best an assault because they punched the gentleman, there is some evidence my client may have kicked him, but that’s simple assault, that’s a misdemeanor. There is nothing that goes further than that, that indicates that there was any chance or likelihood or probability that this man would die as a result of this.”
They are being held in Norfolk jail without bond.
Their teen daughter, who no longer works for Walmart, was charged with assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony, WAVY reported.
She is being held at Norfolk Juvenile Detention Center, but officials are withholding her name because of her age.
