4 Years Later, Remembering 23 Fatal Victims of El Paso Mass Shooting

Photo: Facebook (2), GoFund

It was a busy Saturday at theWalmart in El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 3, 2019. The store was filled to capacity during the back-to-school shopping season.

At about 10:39 a.m., the normalcy of the day was shattered when a gunman entered andopened fireon shoppers. Twenty-three people were killed in the rampage, including a man who died months later as a result of his injuries, and 26 people were injured.

The gunman, Patrick Crusius, now 24, wrote a hate-filled manifesto against Latino people and immigrants before driving more than 10 hours to El Paso from his home near Dallas. His defense lawyers said mental disabilities and was in a psychotic state, but after pleading guilty to 90 federal counts, including 45 hate crime charges, he was sentenced in July to 90 consecutive life terms in prison,NBC reported.

Hours after the El Paso shooting, on Aug. 4, 2019, a gunman opened fire on astreet with bars and nightlife in Dayton, Ohio, killingnine innocent people.

Below is a list of the victims who lost their lives in the El Paso mass shooting.

Jordan, 25, and Andre Anchondo, 24

Andre and Jordan Anchondo.Facebook

The couple, who lived in El Paso,were killed when Jordan shielded their 2-month-old son from gunfire and Andre shielded Jordan,family members said.

“[The boy] pretty much lived because she gave her life,” Jordan’s sister, Leta Jamrowski, toldthe Associated Press.

Jordan and Andre were inside the store, purchasing school supplies for their 5-year-old. Elizabeth Terry, Jordan’s aunt,described her niece to NBCas “the epitome of love,” calling her “a selfless mother.”

According to the Associated Press, Andre had recently started a business in El Paso that built things from granite and stone. He also recently celebrated his first wedding anniversary with Jordan.

“He had the character and the charisma,” Koteiba “Koti” Azzam, Andre’s friend, told the AP.

Victoria Chavez, a friend of the couple, told PEOPLE, “They were such nice people.”

She added, “I could tell they truly loved each other.”

David Johnson, 63

Facebook

David Johnson died shielding his wife and 9-year-old granddaughter from bullets.

In a social media post, Johnson’s niece, Maria Madera, wrote that he had been a loving father, husband, uncle and grandpa. She hailed his life-saving actions.

Javier Amir Rodriguez, 15

GoFundMe

Javier Rodriguez would have started his sophomore year of high school the month after the shooting.

According to a Facebook post from his aunt, Elvira Rodriguez, Javier loved video games and playing soccer. His uncle was shot in the foot trying to protect him from the shooter.

Angie Englisbee, 86

Angie Englisbee.Facebook

Angie Englisbee was at the check-out line inside Walmart when the shooting began. Moments before her death, she spoke to her son on the phone, her granddaughter Kathryn Hallberg told PEOPLE at the time.

During the conversation with her son, Englisbee “said she was happy, laughing and missed him because he went on vacation and they were going to see each other soon,” said Hallberg. “She went shopping to Walmart every Saturday morning.”

Arturo Benavides, 60

Arturo Benavides was an Army veteran and former bus driver for Sun Metro, El Paso’s public transportation provider. An El Paso native, he and his wife, Patricia, never had children of their own, but were foster parents who doted on their many nieces and nephews.

His grand niece, Jacklin Luna, told PEOPLE that Benavides “was extremely caring, loving, and strong-willed.” Luna said he enjoyed recounting his time with the Army, telling stories from his time on the battlefield.

“He loved hearing from us, and knowing that we were all OK,” she said. “He loved being around people and would talk to anyone.”

Elsa Mendoza Marquez, 57

Elsa Mendoza Marquez.Elsa Mendoza Marquez/Facebook

Elsa Mendoza Marquez/Facebook

Elsa Mendoza Marquez, a mother of two from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, was visiting family in El Paso when she stopped into the Walmart to make a quick purchase. The gunfire erupted just minutes after she walked into the store

“I bid farewell to my companion, the most marvelous of women, a person full of light who will continue illuminating our way for the rest of our lives,” her husband wrote in a Facebook post. “We are going to miss you, love.”

Leonardo Campos

Campos, 41, lived in El Paso with his wife Maribel Loya, who also died in the shooting. He grew up in San Juan, Texas. “He always tried to make people forget about their bad days,” said his brother, David Campos, 26.

“I can’t believe they became a statistic,” said Leo’s childhood friend, Ace Alanis.

Maribel Loya, 56

Maribel Loya.legacy.com

legacy.com

Loya, 56, was shopping for school supplies for her grandchildren with husband Leo Campos. The couple had just left their dog at the groomer moments before.

Her brothertold CBS4the family knew something was wrong when the groomer called to ask why the dog had not been picked up yet. Another relative tracked their car to the store’s parking lot using GPS.

Juan Velazquez, 77

Juan Velazquez, 77, was with his wife, Nicholasa, when the shooting began. They had just parked their car when the gunman approached. Nicholasa, who is in her 60s, was hit in the face but survived the attack. Velazquez died at the scene.

“So they had already been shot when my grandma called my mom, and they were just crying telling us that it hurt where they shot them at, it hurt,” granddaughter Daisy Fuentestold KTSM. “My mom was just trying to tell her to stay calm, to just breathe, and my grandma just told my mom to call the ambulance because they weren’t coming fast enough.”

Gloria Irma Marquez

Marquez – a mother and grandmother – was at the bank inside the Walmart when the shooting began. Her husband, John Ogaz, said, “I called her to tell her to move away from the crazy guy, but she never answered.”

Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe, 58

Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe.Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe/Facebook

Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe/Facebook

A resident of Chihuahua, Mexico, Rothe went to El Paso to pick up her teenage daughter from the airport. While waiting for her daughter’s plane, Rothe stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things.

A post on the Facebook page for the Migrant Ministry of the Archdiocese of Chihuahua stated, “Just as you have always been in solidarity with migrants, today our entire team embraces you with the same solidarity.”

Sara Esther Regalado & Adolfo Cerros Hernandez

Regalado and her husband, Adolfo Hernandez, of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, were both killed in the attack

Regalado’s daughter, Sandra Ivonne Cerros, left a loving tribute for herparents on her Facebook page, writing in Spanish, “I don’t know how long it will take for my soul to heal. Your deaths leave us with a great vacuum. I’m so grateful I was your daughter. Rest in peace my beloved parents.”

Their granddaughter Vielka Yi also expressed her heartbreak online, writing, “They certainly didn’t deserve this.”

Margie Reckard

Reckard, 67, was shopping in Walmart when she was killed. “I have never had nothing like this and my wife, I know she’s looking down and smiling,” her husband of 22 years, Tony Bascotold News 4 San Antonio, adding that she was a “good wife.”

Ivan Filiberto Manzano, 41

Ivan Manzano.Ivan Filiberto Manzano/Linkedin

Ivan Filiberto Manzano/Linkedin

Manzano, a Ciudad Juárez native, was known as a hard worker and exceptionally devoted to his wife and two children. A colleague described him to theThe Washington Postas an “exemplary father” who was passionate about his sales and marketing career.

“It didn’t matter what the hour was, he was always in his office or in the field, taking care of his projects,” Salvador Jonapa told the paper.

Jorge Calvillo Garcia, 61

Jorge Calvillo Garcia.Jorge Calvillo Garcia/Facebook

Jorge Calvillo Garcia/Facebook

Jorge CalvilloGarcía, was visiting El Paso to see his son, Luis, and his granddaughter, Emily. They were raising money with Emily’s soccer team outside Walmart, according toKFOX14. Calvillo was struck with bullets as he shielded the girls, his nephew, Raul Ortega, told the station.

Maria Flores, 77, and Raul Flores, 83

Raul Flores, Maria Flores.mtcarmelfuneralhomes

mtcarmelfuneralhomes

Raul and Maria Flores retired in El Paso in the 1990s after raising their family in Southern California,accordingtoThe Washington Post. The couple had been married for 60 years.

On the day of the shooting, they were at Walmart purchasing airbeds for visiting relatives, thePostreported.

The couple’s son met with reporters following the shooting, telling them he had desperately attempted to reach his parents but had no success. “I can’t contact them on the phone,” he said to KERA News, noting that he hadn’t heard from them since the day before.

Alexander Hoffman, 66

Alexander Hoffman was born in Germany but lived in Ciudad Juárez for more than 40 years before being shot at the Wal-Mart. His wife told the Associated Press that he considered himself Mexican and that Mexico was his second home. He was 66.

Teresa Sanchez, 82

Teresa Sanchez.sanjose funeral home

sanjose funeral home

Guillermo ‘Memo’ Garcia

Garcia died nearly nine months after the shooting. On the day he was shot, Garcia and his wife were selling lemonade to raise money for their child’s soccer team,CBS4Local reported.

A GoFundMewas established to cover the family’s expenses.

source: people.com