Bert Atienza’s widow is speaking out after her husband was beaten to death inside a Virginia Walmart.
Josephine Atienza, 72, told WTKR that the 77-year-old was still conscious when she reached his side after the June 7 attack at the Norfolk store. “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 in the interview. “I look at him again. He has no more consciousness.”
The couple, married 42 years, had spent that Sunday morning at church before heading to the big-box retailer for groceries. Josephine said their routine trip turned fatal when a 17-year-old employee sped down their aisle with a heavy cart, nearly striking her. Bert confronted the worker about the near-collision and the lack of an apology, his wife recounted.
“He said, ‘You almost hit my wife with your heavy cart, and you did not even say excuse me or apologize to her,'” Josephine told the station. The exchange escalated briefly before the teen allegedly threw a can toward the couple as they walked away.
Minutes later, Travis White, 44, and Erika Mitchell, 42, arrived at the store and tracked down the elderly couple, according to surveillance footage obtained by WTKR. Their daughter, the employee, watched as the parents allegedly assaulted Bert while he browsed a shelf.
Josephine described the attack in detail: “They crowded my husband, one of the adults hit him in the face. He fell down on the floor. I was terrified. I don’t know what’s going on,” She said the beating continued after Bert collapsed. “While he’s on the floor, they’re still kicking him and I told them stop. My husband has heart problems.”
Store video captured Josephine sitting on the ground cradling her husband in her lap as he lost consciousness. Bert died of blunt head trauma at a hospital on June 8, and medical officials ruled his death a homicide.
White and Mitchell were arrested days later and initially charged with malicious wounding by mob, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony. Court records show prosecutors later elevated the charges to second-degree murder. The couple is being held without bond at Norfolk jail.
Their attorney, James Broccoletti, pushed back against the severity of the charges in a statement to WTKR. “They did not go there, intending for any of this to happen. It was an emotional situation. Their daughter called them. She was distraught. They went, as any parent would do, to try to make sure that their daughter was safe and then the situation kind of erupted. It was spontaneous almost,” he said.
Broccoletti argued the evidence supports only a misdemeanor assault. “We think that the evidence establishes at best an assault because they punched the gentleman, there is some evidence my client may have kicked him, but that’s simple assault, that’s a misdemeanor. There is nothing that goes further than that, that indicates that there was any chance or likelihood or probability that this man would die as a result of this.”
The teen employee, who no longer works for Walmart, was also charged with assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony. She is being held at Norfolk Juvenile Detention Center, and her name is being withheld because she is a minor.
Josephine offered insight into her late husband’s character, saying he spoke his mind regardless of who was involved. “If he sees things that he doesn’t like, he will tell it to you straightforward. That’s how it is. He doesn’t care who you are,” she said.
White and Mitchell are expected to appear in Norfolk court for hearings on the upgraded murder charges.