Elderly Virginia man dies after alleged Walmart attack by employee's parents

Footage captured the alleged assault; couple had been at church that morning

A 77-year-old man has died from injuries suffered in an alleged assault inside a Norfolk, Virginia Walmart, according to local media reports. Bert Atienza died from blunt head trauma on 8 June, one day after the attack, television station WTKR reported on Monday.

Police responded to the Walmart at about 3:20 p.m. on 7 June after receiving a report of an assault, according to WTKR. Atienza was found unresponsive and transported 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 42 years, Josephine, were grocery shopping after spending the morning at church. Josephine told WTKR that a 17-year-old Walmart employee came quickly down the aisle where the couple was shopping and nearly struck her with a shopping cart.

She said her husband and the worker exchanged words before the employee allegedly threw a can toward the couple as they walked away. The teen then called her parents, Travis White and Erika Mitchell, who began looking for the couple inside the store minutes later, according to WTKR.

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 outlet reported.

The footage captured Atienza being allegedly shoved from behind, then grabbed and punched as bystanders nearby walked away. He was pushed into a shelving unit and fell to the floor, where one of the suspects allegedly kicked him.

Video from the scene shows Atienza’s wife, Josephine, was left on the floor holding her injured husband in her lap after the attack, WTKR reported. She described the aftermath from the scene in an interview with the station. “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,’” she said. “I look at him again. He has no more consciousness.”

White and Mitchell were arrested days after the attack and remain held without bond in the Norfolk jail, according to WTKR. Their teenage daughter was also charged, WAVY reported, with assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding, and conspiracy to commit a felony. She is being held at the Norfolk juvenile detention center. Authorities have not released her name because she is a minor.