EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — On August 3, 2019, an armed gunman entered the Walmart in the Cielo Vista neighborhood of East El Paso. The first gunshots rang out at 10:39 and lasted until 10:45 a.m. The white nationalist shooter, who aimed to kill ‘Mexicans,’ murdered 23 people and injured another 24.


Story continues below



Andre & Jordan Anchondo

Andre and Jordan, ages 23 and 24, were shopping for school supplies for Jordan’s oldest daughter on the morning of August 3. They were standing in the self-checkout area when the gunman stormed through the grocery section doors and began shooting.

Andre stepped in front of Jordan to shield her and the couple’s two-month-old son, Paul. Andre was shot and killed on the scene. Jordan was shot while protecting Paul. Paramedics rushed Jordan and baby Paul to the hospital where Jordan died.

Paul was grazed by a bullet but survived the shooting thanks to his parents. President Trump met with the Anchondo family on his visit to El Paso following the massacre. During the trip, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump posed with baby Paul.

Paul turned one in May. More than 100 people came to celebrate his birthday with a parade around the Anchondo family’s neighborhood.


Arturo ‘Tury’ Benavides


Arturo Benavides, 60, was grocery shopping with his wife, Patricia, the morning of the shooting. Tury was paying at the register when shots rang out. She was sitting near the restroom and was separated from her husband during the shooting.

Benavides was a South El Paso resident, U.S. Army veteran, and a longtime transit operator for Sun Metro until his retirement in 2013.

His family said he loved listening to oldies and had a wealth of knowledge about rock music from the 1960s and 70s.

The City of El Paso officially renamed the Sun Metro Transit station on Sunmount, directly behind the Cielo Vista Walmart to the Arturo “Tury” Benavides Eastside Transit Center on August 1, 2020.


Leonardo Campos & Maribel Loya

Leonardo Campos, 41, and Maribel Loya, 56, were shopping at the Cielo Vista Walmart when they were both shot and killed August 3. The couple had been married for 16 years.

Leo was a native of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School class of 1996. Maribel was a graduate of Austin High School in El Paso

The couple had four children.


Angie Englisbee

Angie Englisbee, 86, lived just a mile from the Cielo Vista Walmart in the Burges neighborhood.

She’d gone to Walmart that morning to go shopping. She was on the phone with one of her sons around 10:30 a.m. when she told him she had to hang up because she was in the checkout line.

That was the last the family heard from her.

Englisbee, a native of Santa Fe, was a mother of eight. Her husband died when her children were young, leaving her to raise them on her own.

Her family says she was an avid Dallas Cowboys fan. She is survived by seven children, and over 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.


Maria & Raul Flores

Maria, 77, and Raul Flores, 83, were a loving couple who’d been married for 60 years. They met while living in Juárez where Raul worked at a tailor shop. The couple lived most of their lives in California and moved to El Paso to retire.

They were parents to three children, and along with 11 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and a large extended family. The couple was buried together after a service at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church.


Jorge Calvillo García

Jorge Calvillo Garica, 61, had just pulled up to the front of the Cielo Vista Walmart around 10:30 a.m. in his pickup truck when shots rang out on August 3.

Calvillo Garcia’s granddaughter was fundraising for her soccer team, the EP Fusion, that morning. According to one of the soccer coaches, Calvillo Garcia called ahead to make an order and pulled his truck directly up to the tent where the girls were selling Aguas Frescas. He got out and began speaking with his son, Luis Calvillo when the shots started.

Jorge Calvillo Garcia was one of two adults associated with the EP Fusion soccer team that died. Jorge’s son Luis was also shot and severely injured along with three other parents.


Guillermo ‘Memo’ Garcia

Guillermo ‘Memo’ Garcia, 36, was at the front of the Cielo Vista Walmart fundraising with his daughter’s soccer team, the EP Fusion the morning of August 3.

Memo was shot multiple times and was taken to Del Sol Medical Center where he underwent dozens of surgeries. Nearly nine months after the shooting, Memo died as a result of his injuries. He was the 23rd victim of the Walmart shooting.

Memo leaves behind his wife, Jessica, who was also shot that day, and a son and daughter.


Adolfo Cerros Hernández & Sara Esther Regalado Moriel

Alfredo Cerros Hernández,68, and Sara Moriel, 66, were one of four couples killed in the Walmart massacre on August 3. They are among eight Mexican nationals killed that day.

Aldolfo was originally from Aguascalientes, Mexico, while Sara was a native of Juarez. Their services were held in Juárez at the Mausoleos Funeral Home.

The couple’s daughter, Sandra, told KTSM the family was very thankful for the support from the El Paso and Juarez communities following the tragic shooting.

The couple is survived by three daughters and four grandchildren.


Alexander Gerhard Hoffman

Alexander Gerhard Hoffman, 66, was a native of Germany. He’d lived in Chihuahua for more than 40 years with his wife, a Mexican national.

According to the NYTimes, Hoffman served in the German Air Force and was stationed at Fort Bliss when he met his wife, Rosa, in a Juárez discotheque.

The couple lived in Europe for several years, until Hoffman’s retirement from the German Air Force in the 1980s.

According to his daughter, Hoffman was softhearted, and a lover of literature.

The couple is survived by their three children.


David Johnson

David Johnson, 63, was shopping with his wife Kathy, and 9-year-old granddaughter, Katie, the morning of the shooting.

The family says Johnson died while trying to save his wife and granddaughter. His last words were directing the two to safety.

They were at the checkout when shots began and Johnson immediately hid his family under a checkout station and shielded them from gunfire.

Johnson was an avid golfer and was a dedicated family man.


Luis Alfonso Juarez

Luis Juarez, 90, was the oldest of the victims on August 3. He was a native of Mexico who was a beloved resident of his South El Paso neighborhood.

He immigrated to the United States and became a citizen, he went on to have a long career in ironwork, bought a home and lived to raise seven children, 20 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren.

Juarez’s wife, Martha, was also injured in the attack on August 3. His granddaughter tells KTSM he was the ultimate conversationalist and especially loved talking to teens. “He was the type to try to understand why people were angry or looked troubled and give calming advice,” she said.

She says he was 90, but was so full of life, “you’d think he was 20 years younger.”


Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe

Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe, 58, was a Mexican national who lived in Chihuahua.

She traveled to El Paso on the morning of August 3, 2019, to pick up her teenage daughter, Natalie, at the El Paso Airport. While waiting for the flight, she decided to run errands at Walmart.

While she never arrived to pick up her daughter from EPIA, the family held out hope that she was just injured or being questioned by police. Her cell phone showed its last location inside Walmart. Eventually, the family learned she was one of 19 who was dead inside the store.

Legarreta came from a prominent Chihuahua family with multiple restaurants and livestock businesses.


Elsa Mendoza Márquez

Elsa Mendoza Marquez, 57, was a special education teacher in Juárez.

Weekend trips to El Paso to shop or visit family was routine for Elsa, her husband, and son. While Elsa ran into the store to make a quick school supply purchase, they waited in the car for her.

Minutes later, the pair hear gunshots and screams.

In the days following her death, tributes from colleagues and former students poured in across the border. In a tweet, Mexico’s Secretary of Public Education Esteban Moctezuma Barragán said Mexico’s education community is “mourning the irreparable loss” of Marquez.

Marquez left behind her husband and two children.


Ivan Hilierto Manzano

Ivan Manzano, 46, of Juárez, was better known for his stint with Mexican radio station chain Megaradio, where he worked sales and marketing for nearly four years. However, those close to him said he was devoted to his family — he had a wife and two children — and his church.

Manzano was just finished checking out at Walmart and was heading toward the door when he came across the shooter. His body was found inside the men’s restroom, where he’d retreated to safety.

Manzano’s funeral in Juárez was attended by then-Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.

He left behind his wife Adry, and two children – ages eight and five.


Gloria Irma Márquez

Gloria Irma Márquez, 61, was a Mexican national living legally in El Paso. Due to immigration complications, she’d been separated from her daughter for over 13 years waiting for documents allowing the two to be reunited in the United States.

Her daughter officially received her VISA just days after Gloria’s death. Márquez’s story brought to light the struggle many families living on the border endure when dealing with immigration status and separation of families.

Her family says she was a dedicated mother of four and a grandmother.


Margie Reckard

Margie Reckard, 63, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, but had roots in Nebraska before moving to El Paso in 2016.

Reckard was battling Parkinson’s disease and lived on disability insurance. She was in front of Walmart when she was shot on August 3.

According to family, Reckard was a mother of three who worked odd jobs while her children were growing up to make ends meet. When her first husband died in 1995, Reckard married Antonio Basco. The couple moved to El Paso together.

Because the couple were the latest El Paso residents and had no family in the area, Antonio Basco invited the entire community to her funeral. Nearly 4,000 El Pasoans lined blocks in Central El Paso to pay their last respects to Reckard and her children who traveled for her funeral.


Javier Rodriguez

Javier Rodriguez, 15, is the youngest of the victims on August 3. He was about to start his Sophomore year at Horizon High School when the shooting happened.

Javier asked his uncle, Octavio Lizarde, to take him shopping for school supplies on the morning of August 3. The pair were standing in line at the First Convenience Bank inside Walmart, waiting to cash a check when they were both shot.

In the days after the shooting, Horizon High School held a vigil to honor Javier. His relatives released doves into the air, and the school’s choir sang in his honor.

Javier’s uncle, Octavio was shot multiple times in the leg and foot. He required multiple surgeries and the community came together to build a ramp for him to safely get into his home.


Teresa Sanchez

Teresa Sanchez, 82, was at Walmart with her sister Rosa Baron and niece, Rosemary Vega, buying groceries.

The women had already checked out of the store and were walking toward the entrance when all three were shot. While Rosa and Rosemary survived, Teresa died in the attack.

Her family says she was shot three times before her 80-year-old sister, Rosa, was able to get help for her. Teresa fought to stay alive but died peacefully the next night. She was the 21st victim of the Walmart shooting.

Teresa was a retired biology teacher who lived in El Paso for the last 30 years of her life.


Juan Velazquez

Juan Velazquez, 77, and his wife Nicholasa were just pulling up to Walmart that Saturday morning.

The couple just pulled into a parking space at Walmart when the shooter began firing his weapon. It is believed that the couple were the first two shot that day.

Nicholasa was shot in the stomach and head and Juan was shot in his stomach, damaging his kidneys and intestines. He died 36 hours later at Del Sol Hospital — he was the 22nd victim of the August 3 shooting. Nicholasa eventually recovered from her injuries.

Juan, who was originally from Zacatecas, lived in El Paso. He left behind his wife, six children and more than a dozen grandchildren.