The Washington Post - 06.08.2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A

tional teachers union. Mendoza

“used to say, ‘Things done with

love are done better,’ and she was

always ready to help.”

The slain teacher’s husband,

Antonio de la Mora, a professor at

the Autonomous University of

Ciudad Juarez, bade farewell to

his wife in an emotional message

on social media.

“I say goodbye to my compan-

ion, the most wonderful woman, a

person full of light who will con-

tinue to illuminate our path,” he

wrote.

Mexico’s education minister,

Esteban Moctezuma, said in a

tweet that “the Mexican educa-

tion community is in mourning

for the irreparable loss of teacher

Elsa Mendoza.”

— Mary Beth Sheridan

and Gabriela Martinez

Javier Amir Rodriguez, 15

Javier Amir Rodriguez was

among the youngest killed in El

Paso, his uncle Cesar Serrano told

The Post.

Clint Independent School Dis-

trict confirmed his death in a

tweet Monday. “We are deeply

saddened to learn of the loss of

one of our students,” the district

said. “Our heartfelt condolences

and prayers are with his parents

and family.”

Javier was just weeks away

from starting his sophomore year

of high school. “He was such a

loving boy,” Elvira Rodriguez, his

aunt, told the Arizona Republic.

She said he loved to play soccer

and did well in school.

— Hailey Fuchs

El Paso authorities released

names of other victims Monday,

identifying them as Leonard Cam-

pos, 41; Maria Flores, 77; Raul

Flores, 77; Jorge Calvillo Garcia,

61; Alexander Hoffman, 66; Luis

Juarez, 90; Maribel Loya, 56; Glo-

ria Irma Marquez, 61; Margie

Reckard, 63; Teresa Sanchez, 82;

Angelina Silva-Elisbee, 86; and

Juan Velazquez, 77.

preneurs and not employees, and

we founded Grupo IVER,” a mar-

keting firm, said the colleague,

Vianney Rico. They pulled togeth-

er the idea for the business in an

afternoon, “at one desk with two

chairs,” she said. Manzano also

had a business selling medical

equipment.

Manzano had held jobs in Ar-

gentina and in Monterrey, Mexi-

co, but eventually returned to his

hometown. He was known for his

work ethic.

“It didn’t matter what the hour

was, he was always in his office or

in the field, taking care of his

projects,” said his former col-

league at Megaradio, Salvador

Jonapa.

But Manzano also was an “ex-

emplary father” to his son and

daughter, Jonapa said.

When he wasn’t working or

with his family, Manzano enjoyed

running and took part in several

marathons in the city, his former

colleagues said.

— Mary Beth Sheridan

Elsa Mendoza, 57

Elsa Mendoza was a teacher

and school principal who lived

and worked in Ciudad Juarez. She

was in El Paso on Saturday visiting

family, according to local news

reports. She had stopped by Wal-

mart to pick up a few things from

the supermarket section, leaving

her husband and son in the car,

according to the Mexican news-

paper Milenio.

She never emerged from the

store.

Mendoza was originally from

the town of Yepomera, in the

northern state of Chihuahua. Her

expertise was in special educa-

tion, but she was principal of a

school — the Club de Leones y

Rafael Veloz elementary school —

with a range of students. She was

known for her optimism.

“She always, always had a

smile,” said Rosa Maria Hernan-

dez Madero, a colleague who

heads the local branch of the na-

friend, speaking on the condition

of anonymity out of concern for

the family’s privacy.

Legarreta was going to the El

Paso airport Saturday to pick up

her youngest child, a 16-year-old

girl, who was returning from a

trip to Europe.

The mother decided to stop by

Walmart on the way to do some

quick shopping, according to the

friend and news reports.

Legarreta will be remembered

for being an outstanding parent,

said the friend. “Above all, she was

a great mother.”

— Gabriela Martinez

and Mary Beth Sheridan

Ivan Filiberto Manzano, 45

Ivan Filiberto Manzano, a na-

tive of Ciudad Juarez, was known

for his enthusiasm for his busi-

ness projects, and devotion to his

wife and two children, ages 5

and 9.

Manzano had worked in sales

and marketing for years. One day,

he approached a colleague at Meg-

aradio, a broadcasting firm in

Juarez, about forming their own

business.

“We decided to become entre-

“He was a completely selfless,

dedicated family man,” Patridge

said. “He put everybody before

himself.”

The Johnsons were “a perfect

match,” the nephew said.

“He always made her feel like

she was the most important per-

son in the world,” he said. “You

could just tell from the way he

looked at her, he was completely

in love.”

In the little free time he had,

Johnson liked to watch golf tour-

naments and NASCAR races.

Johnson told relatives in recent

months that he looked forward to

retirement so he finally could

have more time to spend with his

wife.

— Rebecca Tan

Maria Eugenia Legarreta, 58

Maria Eugenia Legarreta came

from a well-known business fam-

ily in the northern Mexican city of

Chihuahua. But she was a full-

time homemaker focused on her

four children.

“She never stopped smiling.

She was a wonderful woman, very

dedicated to her children, and a

wonderful cook,” said a family

pair had long ago bonded over

food. When Luna was growing up,

Arturo Benavides used to make

her morning waffles on weekends.

She cannot quite believe she will

never make the man she called

“Nino” a pineapple upside-down

cake again.

— Hannah Natanson

Adolfo Cerros Hernández, 68,

and Sara Esther Regalado, 66

Sara Esther Regalado and

Adolfo Cerros Hernández were a

married couple who lived in Ciu-

dad Juarez, Mexico. The husband,

68, was originally from the Mexi-

can city of Aguascalientes, while

the wife, 66, was a native of Juar-

ez.

“With profound pain in our

hearts, we inform you that our

beloved parents, Adolfo Cerros

Hernández and Sarita Regalado,

were victims of the tragic shoot-

ing” at the Walmart in El Paso,

their daughter, Sandra Ivonne

Cerros, wrote on Facebook.

“We are devastated, these have

been very difficult hours,” she

said, asking for privacy for the

family as they grieved.

— Mary Beth Sheridan

David Johnson, 63

David and Kathy Johnson were

best friends, their relatives said.

David worked long hours on

weekdays to support his family,

said a nephew, Dominic Patridge.

But on weekends, he made sure to

carve out time to spend with

Kathy.

The couple, with their 9-year-

old granddaughter, were in the

checkout line at Walmart in El

Paso when shooting began Satur-

day. Johnson told his wife and

granddaughter to get on the floor,

according to relatives. When he

was shot, the Army veteran fell

toward them to give them cover,

said Patridge.

Kathy Johnson and the child

were able to escape, but on Sun-

day afternoon, the family was no-

tified David Johnson had died.

The Post.
Patricia Benavides is still incon-
solable, Luna said, mourning the
loss of her “soul mate,” a man
characterized first and foremost
by his total and unswerving devo-
tion to family. They had been mar-
ried more than 30 years.
“If anyone ever needed any-
thing, he was the first one there: If
we needed a ride, a shirt or a meal,
he was always the first person to
offer anything he had,” Luna said.
“Whenever we all went out to eat,
he would pay the whole bill. He
didn’t want anyone to spend a
dime.”
Every week, Arturo Benavides
would phone everyone in the fam-
ily to see how they were doing,
Luna said. He wanted to know:
How are your grades in school?
How is work? Did you get that
promotion?
Benavides had retired about
two years ago after working as a
bus driver for Sun Metro, El Paso’s
public transit agency, Luna said.
Before that, she said, he served in
the Army, an experience that left
him eager to spin military stories
for anyone and everyone who
would listen.
He hadn’t wanted to stop work-
ing, but his wife insisted. Luna
said Benavides was slowly coming
to realize the benefits of leisure
time. Luna’s sister had recently
given Benavides a dog, a husky
mix named Milo, and that helped,
Luna said.
“He was starting to enjoy his
time just at home. He would sit
outside with his oldies music — he
loved the ’60s and the ’70s — and
his dog, who he just fell in love
with,” Luna said. “Something as
simple as that would make him
happy.”
Benavides would have turned
61 in October, and Luna already
knew what she planned to make
him. Every year for his birthday,
he requested the same thing: a
pineapple upside-down cake. The

VICTIMS FROM A

weeks ago, the relatives said in a

written statement, adding that

they were “devastated” by the

shooting.

According to court filings, he

was remanded without bond early

Sunday, and an attorney listed in

court records said he had been

appointed to represent Crusius

but declined to comment.

Authorities in El Paso identified

the victims on Monday; among

them were people from at least

three countries — the United

States, Mexico and Germany —

who ranged in age from 15 to 90.

Their stories have provided heart-

breaking glimpses of people killed

while doing something mundane:

shopping at Walmart.

Jordan and Andre Anchondo

had gone to the store with their

2-month-old son. They were look-

ing to buy birthday party decora-

tions for their daughter, who was

turning 6, and were going to have

family and friends over to their

new home for the first time, said

Tito Anchondo, Andre’s brother.

Both of them were killed in the

gunfire. Relatives think they died

shielding their baby.

Alvaro Mena said Monday that

her stepfather, Juan Velásquez, 78,

had died earlier that morning. Her

mother was still hospitalized,

Mena told reporters outside Del

Sol Medical Center in El Paso.

The couple had been returning

a window blind to Walmart and

were shot in their car while park-

ing, Mena said. They left Juarez

several years ago seeking a safer

city, choosing El Paso.

“That’s why they came here,”

Mena said. “And they came for

this? I just don’t have words for

that.”

Eight of the shoppers killed in

El Paso were Mexican. Mexico has

expressed outrage at the massacre

and suggested that it might try to

bring charges against the perpe-

trator and the seller of the firearm.

Mexico’s foreign minister, Mar-

celo Ebrard, visited El Paso on

Monday to meet with victims and

their families and said that the

Mexican attorney general would

be opening a terrorism case

against the shooter. He also said

they would consider an extradi-

tion request given that some of

those targeted were Mexicans.

“We agree with President

Trump’s statement that racism

and white supremacism are seri-

ous problems in the United

States,” Ebrard said.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Eli Rosenberg, Scott Wilson and

Robert Moore in El Paso; Mary Beth

Sheridan and Gabriela Martinez in

Mexico City; and Meagan Flynn, Hailey

Fuchs, Hannah Natanson, Felicia

Sonmez, Rebecca Tan and Matt

Zapotosky in Washington contributed

to this report.

attorney for the Western District of

Texas, called domestic terrorism.

Bash said federal prosecutors are

strongly weighing hate crimes and

firearms charges against shooting

suspect Patrick Crusius. Those

charges could carry a death sen-

tence.

The charges would not neces-

sarily change the punishment

handed down, as Crusius already

faces a state capital murder

charge, and prosecutors in El Paso

say they will seek the death penal-

ty.

Crusius remains in jail after

surrendering to police. Police say

he has cooperated and answered

questions, but they declined to

elaborate.

“He basically appears to be in a

state of shock and confusion,”

Greg Allen, the El Paso police

chief, said at a news briefing.

Asked if the shooting suspect has

shown remorse, Allen said: “No.

Not to the investigators.”

Precise details of Crusius’s trav-

els remained unclear Monday, but

Allen said the suspected shooter

spent between 10 and 11 hours

traveling from Allen, Tex., to El

Paso. After arriving, Allen said, he

got lost in a neighborhood and

then “found his way to the Wal-

mart because, we understand, he

was hungry.”

Crusius had lived with his

grandparents in Allen until six

a joint statement.

Pelosi and Schumer also chided

Trump for not mentioning back-

ground checks in his televised re-

marks, suggesting that he was do-

ing the bidding of the National

Rifle Association.

“It took less than three hours for

the president to back off his call for

stronger background check legis-

lation,” Pelosi and Schumer said.

“When he can’t mention guns

while talking about gun violence,

it shows the president remains

prisoner to the gun lobby and the

NRA.”

Federal officials have joined the

investigations in both El Paso and

Dayton. The FBI said it is assisting

local police in Dayton, where au-

thorities said Connor Betts, the

24-year-old gunman who opened

fire in the city’s entertainment dis-

trict, killed his sister during the

attack.

Richard S. Biehl, the Dayton po-

lice chief, said Monday that a moti-

vation for that attack remained

elusive. Unnerving glimpses of

Betts’s background have emerged,

including from an ex-girlfriend,

who said he had worried that he

might hurt people and described

wrestling with hallucinations and

hearing menacing voices.

In El Paso, the FBI dispatched

officials from a domestic terror-

ism-hate crimes fusion cell to in-

vestigate what John F. Bash, U.S.

by name, but his statement ap-

peared to be an implicit rebuke of

his successor, denouncing “lead-

ers who demonize those who don’t

look like us” or those who suggest

that immigrants “threaten our

way of life.”

He also called for new gun laws,

saying that the country is “not

helpless” in the face of the mass

shootings that have become a reg-

ular feature in American society.

“Every time this happens, we’re

told that tougher gun laws won’t

stop all murders; that they won’t

stop every deranged individual

from getting a weapon and shoot-

ing innocent people in public plac-

es,” Obama said. “But the evidence

shows that they can stop some

killing. They can save some fami-

lies from heartbreak.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday

evening that Senate Republicans

“are prepared to do our part.” He

did not mention the word “gun” at

any point in his statement.

The top two Democrats in Con-

gress called on McConnell to bring

the Senate back from recess to pass

bills on background checks al-

ready approved by the House.

“McConnell has called himself

the ‘grim reaper’ and refuses to act

on this bipartisan legislation,”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

(Calif.) and Senate Minority Lead-

er Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) said in

history of denigrating them. He

also has been criticized for his

unwillingness to vilify white su-

premacists, such as in his re-

sponse to the violent confronta-

tion between white supremacists

and counterprotesters in Char-

lottesville in 2017, after which he

said there were “very fine people”

on both sides.

During his remarks, Trump

said he was directing the Justice

Department to propose legisla-

tion “ensuring that those who

commit hate crimes and mass

murders face the death penalty”

and that this punishment be car-

ried out rapidly and “without

years of needless delay.”

People convicted of carrying

out such crimes already can face

death sentences in many cases. In

a recent example involving a mass

killing fueled by racial hatred, fed-

eral prosecutors sought and won a

death sentence for the avowed

white supremacist convicted of

killing nine black parishioners in-

side a Charleston, S.C., church in

2015.

Not long after Trump spoke,

former president Barack Obama

released a statement bluntly push-

ing back against what he called

“language coming out of the

mouths of any of our leaders that

feeds a climate of fear and hatred

or normalizes racist sentiments.”

Obama did not mention Trump

take questions from reporters.
Trump also called for cultural
changes, including stopping the
“glorification of violence in our
society” in video games and else-
where.
Research has found no link be-
tween violent video games and
shooting people, and studies of
mass shooters have found that
while some had mental-health is-
sues, many did not, with other
factors — including past domestic
violence, a strong sense of resent-
ment and a desire for infamy —
emerging as stronger predictors.
Hours earlier, on Twitter, he
called for “strong background
checks” and suggested pairing
gun legislation with new immigra-
tion laws, a top priority of his
administration that he has failed
to move through Congress. Trump
made a similar call to strengthen
background checks after a mass
shooting last year at a Florida
school, and he has since threat-
ened to veto bills passed by House
Democrats seeking to do so.
Trump did not mention back-
ground checks in his televised re-
marks.
In his tweets, Trump said: “Re-
publicans and Democrats must
come together and get strong
background checks, perhaps mar-
rying this legislation with desper-
ately needed immigration reform.
We must have something good, if
not GREAT, come out of these two
tragic events!”
Trump also appeared to blame
the media for recent mass shoot-
ings in a tweet on Monday, writing
that “Fake News has contributed
greatly to the anger and rage that
has built up over many years.”
Authorities are investigating
the El Paso shooting, along the
U.S. border, as a hate crime and
domestic terrorism, and they are
combing through a manifesto offi-
cials think the suspected attacker
posted online that included anti-
immigrant sentiments. The shoot-
ing occurred in a shopping area
with a Walmart known to draw
Mexican nationals from Juarez.
The twin terrors in a span of
hours over the weekend again hor-
rified a nation that has become
numb to the familiar and repeti-
tive tragedies. They prompted, as
usual, a push for stricter gun-con-
trol measures, debates over viru-
lent rhetoric and anguish over the
relentless stream of such attacks
across the United States.
While admonishing people to
condemn the ideologies that have
spawned some of the nation’s
worst mass shootings, Trump and
his own commentary have been
central aspects of the debate since
El Paso. The president, who has
staked much of his presidency on
efforts to keep undocumented im-
migrants out of the country, has a

SHOOTINGS FROM A

mass shootings in america

Trump calls for background checks in tweets, not speech

LARRY W SMITH/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Emma Del Valle, left, and Brenda Castaneda console each other near a memorial for the shooting victims set up along an El Paso street.

BRYAN WOOLSTON/REUTERS

A mourner holds a candle during a vigil Sunday near the scene of a

mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that left nine dead.