Here are the events before, during and after a mass shooting Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, which claimed 23 lives.
A 21-year-old from a Dallas suburb drove for up to 11 hours to El Paso armed with an AK-47 rifle he used in the attack, police said. The shooter, a white supremacist, targeted Mexicans shopping at one of the busiest grocery stores in the Borderland.
El Paso Shooting: A timeline of tragedy
The shooter spent hours traveling by car to El Paso, carrying out the shooting in just minutes.
Friday, Aug. 9: ‘I’m the shooter’
An arrest warrant affidavit states the man accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting confessed to officers while he was surrendering and later said he had been targeting Mexicans.
Tuesday, Aug. 13: Families receive assistance
Families affected by the shooting began receiving financial assistance collected by The Paso del Norte Foundation and El Paso Community Foundation.
Wednesday, Aug. 14: Investigation completed
El Paso Police Department officers and FBI El Paso Division agents complete the Walmart shooting investigation and turn the crime scene over to company officials.
Gov. Greg Abbott forms a statewide Domestic Terrorism Task Force in an effort to prevent a repeat of the hate-inspired mass killings in El Paso.
The City hosts a community memorial service at Southwest University Park in Downtown El Paso. Nearly 5,000 residents attend.
Walmart Store Manager Describes the Scene at Walmart Saturday Morning (6:31)
Thursday, Aug. 15: Football game canceled
Antonio Basco, who has no family in the area, invites all El Pasoans to attend the funeral of his wife Margie Reckard.
Plano ISD cancels the upcoming football game against El Paso’s Eastwood High School for security reasons.
Restaurateur, author and TV personality Chef Aarón Sánchez, an El Paso native, announces he will join the El Paso Community Foundation in a fundraising night of unity on Aug. 24.
Comedian George Lopez and actor Edward James Olmos visit El Paso shooting survivors at University Medical Center.
Friday, Aug. 16: Community attends Reckard funeral
Plano ISD superintendent Sara Bonser announces the Eastwood Troopers and Plano High School football teams will play after all.
Singer Vikki Carr, who was born in El Paso, announces she will return to the borderland Aug. 25th for a concert benefiting the victims of the Walmart shooting.
During a prayer service for Margie Reckard at La Paz Faith Center in Central El Paso, about 500 people packed church and about triple that number were outside. Flowers for Reckard came from all over the world.
Monday, Aug. 19: Suspect on suicide watch
The man charged in the El Paso Walmart mass shooting is on suicide watch, placed under close guard on the recommendation of medical staff at the county jail.
Gov. Greg Abbott announces a commission that will look at the rise of extremist groups and hateful ideologies and how to “keep guns out of the hands of deranged individuals.”
Wednesday, Aug. 21: Walmart to reopen
Walmart officials decide to reopen the Cielo Vista Walmart store after the interior is renovated. Walmart also plans to add a memorial for the shooting victims at the store site.
Thursday, Aug. 22: Safety roundtables held
The first Texas Safety Commission roundtable is held in Austin. The second roundtable is held Aug. 28 in El Paso.
Thursday, Aug. 29: Weapon bought from Romania
The Texas Tribune reports the El Paso shooter told authorities that he bought the semi-automatic WASR-10 used in the shooting from Romania and had it sent to a retail gun dealer near his home in Allen, Texas.
Wednesday, Aug. 30: Victims sue Walmart
Jessica and Guillermo Garcia, who were both severely injured in the Aug. 3 mass shooting, file a lawsuit against Walmart in El Paso County district court. The lawsuit, which is not asking for monetary compensation, is seeking to get answers as to why Walmart did not have measures in place to prevent the shooting.
Sunday, Sept. 1: Khalid raises $500,000
Khalid’s ““A Night for Suncity CQ with Khalid and Friends”” which sold out within minutes of tickets being released raises $500,000. The money will go into an education fund for the victims of the El Paso mass shooting and their families.
Wednesday, Sept. 4: Attorney appointed
A high-profile Denver civil-rights lawyer, David Lane, is appointed by the El Paso federal court to represent the accused Walmart shooter even though no federal indictment against the man has yet to be filed.
Thursday, Sept. 5: Plano defeats Eastwood
Gov. Greg Abbott issues eight executive orders seeking to keep firearms out the hands of people who pose a threat to public safety.
Plano High School defeats Eastwood High School 43-28 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.
Eastwood vs. Plano More Than Just a Football Game
Thursday, Sept. 12: Capital murder indictment
An indictment for capital murder was officially handed up by a grand jury against the man accused of fatally shooting 22 people at an East El Paso Walmart.
Wednesday, Sept. 25: Judge recuses herself
The shooter’s case was transferred to Judge Sam Medrano of the 409th District Court after Judge Angie Juarez Barill recused herself from the capital murder case after she found out she knew one of the 22 killed.
Thursday, Oct. 10: Suspect pleads not guilty
El Paso Walmart mass shooting suspect pleads not guilty in court, the first time he has made a public appearance and spoken publicly since his arrest.
Tuesday, Oct. 15: Benavides honored
El Paso City Council unanimously supports naming an East Side Sun Metro transfer center after shooting victim and retired Sun Metro employee Arturo Benavides.
Tuesday, Oct. 29: Family sues suspected shooter
The family of Angelina Englisbee file a lawsuit against the suspected shooter, his family and the website where he is believed to have posted a racist, hate-filled manifesto.
Thursday, Nov. 7: Defense not ready
The accused shooter’ defense team informs the judge that given the massive amount of evidence to review in the capital murder case, they are nowhere near ready.
Thursday, Nov. 14: ‘These people need to go on’
Walmart reopens three months after mass shooting. An estimated 1,000 shoppers of all ages, many senior citizens, entered the store by 10:30 a.m. A steady stream of shoppers continued to enter the store through the late morning and early afternoon.
Saturday, Nov. 23: Grand Candela
“Grand Candela,” the memorial for mass shooting victims, is unveiled at in the south part of the Walmart parking lot at 7101 Gateway West Blvd.
2020
Wednesday, Jan. 22: Austin honors fallen Panther
Austin High School students honored Maribel Hernández Loya, a Panther alumna killed in the Aug. 3, 2019, shooting, while also celebrating their school’s commitment to diversity in a memorial service.
Tuesday, Jan. 28: Mystery hero identified
Lazaro Ponce is confirmed to be the Walmart mystery hero. In a series of telephone calls and an interview in Memphis, Tennessee, he told the El Paso Times that he was the previously unidentified mystery man seen on video running out with a baby at the Cielo Vista Walmart store.
Homeless man confirmed to be mystery hero in Walmart shooting
Thursday, Feb. 6: 90 federal charges, 45 hate crimes
A federal grand jury in El Paso handed up 90 federal charges, including 45 hate crimes against the accused shooter.
Wednesday, Feb. 12: Federal court
The accused shooter made his first appearance in federal court. While he did not enter a plea during the court hearing, court documents show that he signed a waiver pleading not guilty.
Saturday, April 25: Death toll is now 23
Guillermo “Memo” Garcia dies after being hospitalized at Del Sol Medical Center for nearly nine months after being shot on Aug. 3. The death toll is now 23 people.
Saturday, May 23: Youngest survivor turns 1 year old:
Paul Anchondo, the youngest survivor of the Walmart shooting, celebrates his first birthday with a drive-by parade. He was left orphaned when both his parents, Jordan and Andre Anchodo, were vicrims in the Aug. 3rd shooting.
Thursday, June 25: Suspect reindicted
Accused El Paso Walmart shooter is reindicted after death of 23rd victim.
Monday, July 1: Healing Garden planned
El Paso County Commissioners Court reveal plans for a Healing Garden honoring the 23 victims of the Walmart shooting. The garden, which will include a memorial wall, should be ready for the first-year anniversary of the devastating attack.
Thursday, July 9: New federal charges
New federal charges are filed against the accused Walmart shooter. A federal grand jury handed up a superseding indictment adding new hate crime and firearm charges. The new charges come after the death in April of the last hospitalized Walmart victim, Guillermo “Memo” Garcia.
Monday, July 13: Mental health evaluation
Defense lawyers say they need more time to evaluate the alleged Walmart mass shooter’s mental health issues. The lawyers ask U.S. District Court Judge David C. Guaderrama to extend the deadline to give defense enough time to do a thorough review of all evidence to decide if the death penalty can legally be allowed.
Tuesday, July 21: $11.8M El Paso mass shooting fund makes last payouts
The Times reports that the last two payouts from the $11.8 million El Paso Walmart shooting victims’ fund were recently authorized, completing the fund’s disbursements almost a year after the Aug. 3 mass shooting.
Thursday, July 23: Delay in trial would be ‘miscarriage of justice’
U.S. Attorney’s Office officials argued that they have every right to continue with their process on deciding if they will seek the death penalty against the man who allegedly killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart. The accused shooter waived his appearance and entered a plea of not guilty, according to court documents. He previously pleaded not guilty to the last indictment against him in October.
Tuesday, August 4: ‘Healing garden’ dedicated
Survivors and the families of the 23 people killed by an alleged white supremacist on Aug. 3, 2019, gathered Sunday at El Paso’s new “healing garden” at Ascarate Park.
Sunday, September 13: Lawsuit dropped against shooter, family, 8chan
The family of one of the victims dropped their civil lawsuit against the suspect and his family, although they left the door open for it to be refiled.
2021
Thursday, August 5: Funds allocated to victims
More than $14 million in donations were raised for those affected by the shooting, with most of that money raised by two El Paso foundations.
Monday, August 16: Antonio Basco, husband of El Paso Walmart shooting victim, dies
Antonio Basco was married for 22 years to his wife Margie Kay Reckard, one of the 23 victims of the El Paso shooting.
2022
Friday, February 18: Federal judge postpones setting date in Walmart shooting trial
U.S. prosecutors want the trial for the accused shooter to begin in June 2023. Defense attorneys are asking for a date no sooner than March 2025. U.S. District Court Judge David C. Guarderrama postponed setting the date.
Wednesday, August 3: ‘They will never be forgotten’
City officials honored those lost to the violence of Aug. 3, 2019, and the families still paying the emotional toll three years later.
Friday, September 23: DA’s Office alleges deal between defense, judge to prevent prosecution in Walmart shooting
A notice of potential evidence filed by the El Paso District Attorney’s Office alleges that 409th District Court Judge Sam Medrano and defense attorney Joe Spencer “engaged in an agreement to prevent the prosecution of the Walmart mass shooting case.”
Tuesday, September 27: State judge denies DA motion to recuse judge
A state judge denied the El Paso District Attorney’s motion to recuse Judge Sam Medrano in the death penalty case against the alleged Walmart shooter.
Sunday, December 4: Gov. Abbott accepts the resignation of El Paso DA
Embattled El Paso District Attorney Yvonne Rosales resigns. Rosales says that effective immediately, her first assistant, Salah George Al-Hanna, will assume all duties and responsibilities as acting district attorney.
2023
Tuesday, January 3: Healing Garden now a national memorial
Wednesday, January 18: Feds won’t seek death for Walmart shooter
Federal prosecutors said they will not seek the death penalty in their case against the defendant in the 2019 Walmart mass shooting that killed 23 people.
Thursday, February 9: Walmart shooter pleads guilty to federal charges
It took 1,285 days, but victims, their families and the Borderland community finally received some justice as the gunman who killed 23 people during a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart pleaded guilty.
Saturday, July 8: Gunman to spend rest of life in prison
The Walmart shooter was sentenced to life in prison on each of 90 federal charges he pleaded guilty to in February.
Thursday, July 13: Walmart mass shooter in state custody
The Walmart mass shooting is now in state custody and remains in El Paso as he awaits a state trial in connection with the attack.
Tuesday, September 5: Walmart mass shooter ordered to pay $5 million in restitution
The restitution amount was agreed on by both defense attorneys and federal prosecutors, a joint motion filed by both sides states. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama approved the motion.
Sunday, October 1: El Paso DA hiring more staff for Walmart mass shooting case
The El Paso District Attorney Office is borrowing more than $67,000 in county general funds to hire more staff to help dig through thousands of pieces of evidence in the Walmart mass shooting case as the cost of the capital murder trial is expected to exceed $2 million.
2024
The DA’s office is seeking the death penalty. A trial date has not been set in state court.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Timeline: A look at the 2019 El Paso mass shooting at Walmart
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
