A dispute that began after Filipino-American Bert Atienza confronted a teenage Walmart employee who nearly hit his wife ended with the 77-year-old fatally injured in an assault, while the employee’s parents now face second-degree murder charges.
Police responded to the Walmart at 1170 North Military Highway in Norfolk, Virginia, at about 3:50 p.m. June 7 after receiving a report of an assault. First responders found Atienza, a Virginia Beach resident, unresponsive inside the store.
Atienza was rushed to a hospital but died from his injuries June 8. The Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that he died from blunt head trauma and classified the death as a homicide.
Born in Malabon City in 1948, Atienza earned an accounting degree from the University of the East and worked as an accountant in the Philippines before moving to the United States in 1993. He later spent 20 years working at Home Depot and settled in Virginia Beach with his wife, Josephine, and their son, Jobert.
The confrontation reportedly started after Bert and Josephine attended church and stopped at Walmart to buy groceries. Josephine told local broadcaster WTKR that a 17-year-old employee moved quickly down an aisle with a heavy cart and nearly struck her.
According to Josephine, Bert confronted the employee and asked why she had not apologized or said “excuse me.” The exchange continued before the teenager allegedly threw a can toward the couple as they walked away. The can missed them, and Bert and Josephine continued shopping.
Court records cited by WAVY show that Erika Mitchell, 42, and Travis White, 44, were not part of the initial argument but arrived at the store afterward. Subsequent reports identified the two adults as the employee’s parents.
Surveillance footage obtained by WTKR shows Atienza being assaulted while he was shopping. Josephine said the two adults surrounded her husband before one struck him in the face, causing him to fall to the floor. She said he was then kicked while she pleaded for them to stop, telling them he had a heart condition.
“My husband was still able to speak. He said, ‘Help me get up,’” Josephine recalled.
She said she chose not to move him because his mouth was bleeding and an ambulance was on the way. Atienza later lost consciousness before first responders arrived.
Norfolk detectives initially charged Mitchell and White with malicious wounding by mob, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony. Court records later showed that both adults were charged with second-degree murder following Atienza’s death. They remain held without bond at the Norfolk City Jail.
The 17-year-old employee was separately charged with assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony. Authorities have not released her name because she is a minor. She was held at the Norfolk Juvenile Detention Center and no longer works for Walmart.
Walmart said it was cooperating with law enforcement but declined to provide further comment on the case.
An attorney for White challenged the murder charge, saying the adults went to the store after receiving a distressed call from their daughter and did not intend for the encounter to turn deadly. Defense attorney James Broccoletti characterized the incident as spontaneous and argued that the evidence supported an assault charge rather than murder.
The charges remain allegations that prosecutors must establish in court. Mitchell, White and the teenage defendant have not been convicted.
Beyond the ongoing cases, the attack shattered the retirement plans Bert and Josephine had made together. The couple met in the Philippines when she was a bank teller and he was an accountant, and after 42 years of marriage, they had planned to return to the country to spend their retirement years with his family.
“We were planning to go home to the Philippines to retire and to be with his family, but now shattered,” Josephine said.
