Spouse Of U.S. Army Veteran Killed In El Paso Walmart Shooting Files Suit
EL PASO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The wife of U.S. Army veteran and retired school bus driver, Arturo Benavides hired attorneys to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart and Patrick Wood Crusius, after her husband died during the Walmart mass shooting in El Paso on August 3, 2019.
On the morning of the shooting, Benavides, 60, and his wife, Patricia, 63, were running errands at the Walmart Supercenter located at 7101 Gateway Boulevard.
After wrapping up their shopping, the couple entered the checkout line to pay for their items. Mrs. Benavides left the checkout line to find a place to sit and rest, when Crusius entered the store and began to open fire, shooting customers inside.
She was pushed into a bathroom where she was able to escape the gunman. But her husband, who was still standing in line at the time the shooter entered, was shot and is among the 22 people killed during the mass shooting that day.
Arturo Benavides. Benavides was a U.S. Army Veteran. He served as an Army Staff Sergeant and in the Texas Army National Guard. He was highly accomplished and received recognition for his service including, the Army Achievement Medal, an Army Good Conduct Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, Non-commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, and an Adjutant General Individual Award through the Texas Army National Guard.
Following his career with the U.S. Army and while working for the Texas Army National Guard, he was employed with Sun Metro, where he worked for 20 years until his retirement in 2013.
Mr. Benavides was also a dedicated family man. He married Patricia—his best friend and soulmate by all accounts—more than 30 years ago. He cared about his family deeply, according to Mrs. Benavides and would take the time to call his family members on a weekly basis, to see how they were doing. He also enjoyed sharing stories and cherished the conversations he had with others.
The lawsuit, which was filed in El Paso County claims that the Wal-Mart Defendants, which have known about shooting incidents at their other stores in Texas and around the nation, had a duty to have security guards and other security measures at its stores, to discourage such shootings and to engage any shooter that may attempt to harm their employees or customers. Although the Wal-Mart Defendants have security guards at some of their stores, the location in El Paso where Mr. Benavides and others were gunned down did not appear to have any.