As Walmart reopens, El Pasoans are still grappling with mass shooting's aftermath
by Julián Aguilar, Texas Tribune
EL PASO The poster boards with messages of support for this border community have been removed from the parking lot gate near this Walmart store the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in Texas history. Gone, too, are the candles, photographs and rosary beads that for months memorialized the 22 victims of the Aug. 3 attack.
The store reopened its doors Thursday, creating a wave of mixed emotions in a community still grieving from the racially motivated attack by a gunman who allegedly said in an online manifesto that he targeted people who looked Mexican in his attempt to ward off what he called an invasion of the country.
For people like Edgar Ceniceros, who went to high school a few blocks away and used to eat lunch at the Walmart McDonalds, the stores reopening was inevitable. He hopes returning to the normal hustle-and-bustle at one of the citys busiest retail centers will mark a return to normalcy. But he knows that it wont be easy at first.
This is a place where a lot of people died. Its going to be hard, he said from the parking lot of the nearby Sams store. Maybe I am going to cry, but we need to keep going, we need to be strong.
Read more:
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/11/14/walmart-prepares-reopen-el-pasoans-grapple-shooting-aftermath/