An elderly Walmart customer, 77-year-old Bert Atienza, dies after being assaulted inside a store following an argument connected to a shopping cart incident. Reports say he suffers blunt head trauma and dies in hospital the day after the altercation.
According to multiple outlets, the dispute involves a 17-year-old Walmart worker and accusations that her actions nearly struck the customer’s wife with a cart. In accounts cited by the press, the customer later has a confrontation with the worker’s parents, after which Atienza is beaten. The outlets describe the customer’s widow and others discussing the events leading up to his death, including his claim that the worker was asked to apologize.
All coverage ties the case to criminal charges against the parents of the teen employee. Both outlets report that Erika Mitchell, 42, and Travis White, 44, are charged in connection with Atienza’s death. The reporting focuses primarily on the shopping-cart dispute and the family relationship between the teen employee and the charged adults, with emphasis on the victim’s family account of what prompted the confrontation.
