Mum died shielding baby in Texas Walmart attack

A mother died shielding her two-month-old son as a gunman opened fire in Texas — now it has emerged her husband has also been killed.

A 25-year-old mother died shielding her two-month-old son as a gunman opened fire in a Texas Walmart — and now it has emerged her husband was also one of the 20 people killed.

Leta Jamrowski, 19, of El Paso, learned on Saturday afternoon that her sister Jordan Anchondo had been shot to death at Walmart while shopping for back-to-school supplies earlier in the day.

Ms Jamrowski spoke to AP in the waiting room at the University Medical Centre of El Paso, where her two-month-old nephew was being treated for broken bones — the result of his mother’s fall.

Jordan Anchondo, 25, died while protecting her baby son, her heartbroken sister said.

“From the baby’s injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him,” she said. “So when she got shot she was holding him and she fell on him, so that’s why he broke some of his bones. So he pretty much lived because she gave her life.”

Ms Jamrowski was also waiting on news of whether her brother-in-law, Andre Anchondo, survived the attack at a busy El Paso shopping area.

Confirmation has now come that Mr Anchondo did not survive.

Liz Terry, aunt of Jordan Anchondo, told CNN that Mr Anchondo, died in the mass shooting.

Their three children — ages five, two, and two months old — have now lost both of their parents.

Ms Terry said: “The baby still had her blood on him. You watch these things and see these things and you never think this is going to happen to your family. How do parents go school shopping and then die shielding their baby from bullets?”

A 21-year-old white man was arrested at the scene of the attack in the city of El Paso, near the US-Mexico border.

He is believed to have posted an online document calling the attack a response to “the Hispanic invasion of Texas”.

As well as 20 counts of murder, he could face federal hate crime and firearms charges, BBC reported.

The gunman opened fire on a crowded Walmart with an assault-style rifle and surrendered after being confronted by police officers outside the store. Saturday morning’s attack also left 26 people injured.

She was shopping in the Walmart store at the time of the attack.

“We’re treating this as a domestic terrorist case,” John Bash, the US lawyer for the Western District of Texas, told a news conference.

He said the attack appeared “to be designed to intimidate a civilian population, to say the least”.

The Walmart, near the Cielo Vista Mall, was full of shoppers buying back-to-school supplies at the time of the shooting, and witnesses described scenes of chaos as customers fled for their lives.

Hours after the El Paso shooting, a gunman opened fire in a crowded bar in Ohio. He killed nine people including his younger sister and her boyfriend.

The mother-of-three was shopping for back-to-school supplies.

VETERAN KILLED IN WALMART SHOOTING SPREE

An army veteran was among those who died in the shooting spree.

Arturo Benavides, 60, was shopping with his wife when the gunman opened fire.

His family members posted to social media over the weekend seeking information about Mr Benavides, who they called “Turi”.

His niece, Jacklin Luna, said he was well known in the community in the years he spent as a Sun Metro bus driver.

“He was the person to always give a helping hand, a home to stay, and a meal,” Luna told Buzzfeed.

“He loved each and every one of us in our own ways. Loved oldies on a Sunday morning, sitting out on his chair in the front porch with his dog Milo at his feet.

Arturo Benavides was killed in the Walmart shooting spree.

BLINK-182 CAUGHT UP IN SHOOTING

Rock band Blink-182 was put on lock down at an El Paso hotel during the shooting.

Blink frontman Mark Hoppus kept his 2.8 million Twitter followers apprised of the situation, writing, “over the intercom system they just announced that there are reports of another active shooter directly across the street at a location different from the first shootings.”

Police later assessed there was no second incident, but Hoppus, the band and crew saw the panic first-hand.

Following today’s terrible tragedy in El Paso we are postponing our Sunday, August 4th show at the UTEP Don Haskins Arena in solidarity with the community. Please stay tuned for further updates coming soon. Sending our love to the entire community of El Paso.

— blink-182 (@blink182) August 4, 2019

As Hoppus described: “We were leaving breakfast when our security texted that there was an active shooter at the mall we were headed to. Saw dozens of police cars on the freeway and surface streets. Helicopters. We got back to the hotel and turned on the news to see what was happening.” Blink’s show at UTEP Dan Haskins Arena, scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed “in solidarity with the community,” the band stated on its social media channels.