After the shooting in El Paso, friends and relatives of victims say they're afraid to attend funerals, visit the shooting site memorial, and even leave their homes.
As the Torres family gathered around their television in El Paso to watch reports of the shooting
The attacks have left Torres, an El Paso native, deeply shaken, to the degree that he didn’t leave his house for several days.“It’s becoming a PTSD experience every time this happens,” said the graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso. “It’s ‘will I be next?’” The suspect not only posted a racist manifesto online before the shooting, railing against a Latino “invasion” of Texas, but he also confessed to police afterward that he had targeted Mexicans, according to an arrest affidavit.Some Latino residents now debate with friends whether being darker-skinned puts them at greater risk, whether it is safe to shop again at Walmart, if they should avoid shopping with their children, or whether to send their children back to school later this month.
Cervantes planned to attend his uncle’s funeral Tuesday at El Paso’s St. Pius X Catholic Church, which hasn’t enhanced security since the shooting. He is nervous but reassures himself that the subsequent burial will be at a cemetery at Ft. Bliss, the secure Army post in El Paso where his uncle once served.
Since May, three El Paso Catholic churches have caught fire. Authorities were investigating the blazes as possible arson, although the motive remained unclear. St. Pius X’s Father Mike Lewis, who led a funeral Mass on Friday for victim Angelina Silva Englisbee, 86, said his church had already stepped up security prior to the Walmart attack because of the fires.Since the shootings, some parishioners have asked him to close the church, but Lewis has refused; instead, he hosted a vigil.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
2020 Vision: El Paso and Dayton dominate as Warren calls on Walmart to stop selling gunsAfter mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, the gun control debate takes center stage in Iowa.
Read more »
El Paso suspect told police he was targeting Mexicans, affidavit saysThe man who authorities say killed 22 people at an El Paso Walmart last weekend told police that his targets were Mexicans, according to an arrest affidavit.
Read more »
After El Paso, Americans have a moral and spiritual duty: pay attention | OpinionWe cannot afford to just 'pass by' as the America we know and love becomes consumed by hate. It's up to all of us to act.
Read more »
El Paso shooter told police he was targeting MexicansThe man accused of gunning down 22 people at an El Paso Walmart confessed to the grisly crime and admitted he was targeting people of Mexican descent, according to unsealed court documents. NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff details the new findings.
Read more »