Elderly Man Dies After Brutal Walmart Attack in Virginia Involving Employee's Parents
A 77-year-old man died from head injuries following a violent attack inside a Walmart store in Norfolk, Virginia, after an argument with a teenage employee.
A 77-year-old man died from head injuries after being attacked inside a Walmart store in Norfolk, Virginia. According to his widow, the attackers were the parents of a 17-year-old employee with whom he had argued minutes earlier, as reported by local television station WTKR.
The Incident at Walmart
Bert Atienza and his wife, Josephine, went shopping on June 7 after morning church services. According to his widow, a 17-year-old employee rushed past the aisle where they were standing with a heavy cart and almost struck her.
"He told her, 'You almost hit my wife with your heavy cart, and you didn't even say sorry or apologize to her,'" she told WTKR. "If he sees something he doesn't like, he tells you straight. That's how he is. It doesn't matter who you are."
According to her, after a brief argument, the employee threw a can at them. She then called her parents, Travis White and Erika Mitchell, who arrived within minutes and located the couple inside the store.
Surveillance Footage and Arrests
Security camera footage shows Atienza near a shelf being pushed from behind, grabbed, and punched, while the daughter watches and other shoppers move away. He is shoved into the shelf and collapses, and one of the suspects kicks him.
"They surrounded my husband, one of the adults hit him in the face. He fell on the floor. I was terrified. I didn't understand what was happening," Josephine said. "While he is on the floor they are still kicking him, and I told them to stop. My husband has heart problems."
White, 44, and Mitchell, 42, were arrested a few days later and charged with malicious wounding by mob, aggravated malicious wounding, and conspiracy to commit a crime. According to court records reviewed by the New York Post, the charges were later upgraded to second-degree murder.
Their attorney, James Broccoletti, claims the two came to defend their daughter and that the attack was unplanned. He argued that the situation escalated from an emotional phone call into a spontaneous altercation.
