The family of two of the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting at Walmart have met the people who helped their parents.
Alvaro Mena lives in Denver, Colorado and made the trip to El Paso after finding out his parents had been shot. His father Juan Velasquez died from his injuries, while his mother Nicolasa Velasquez remains at Del Sol Medical Center.
Mena says his parents were shot in their car as they were arriving to Walmart.
Angelica Silva, an employee at the McDonald’s inside the Walmart helped get first responders to the Velasquez’s car after noticing the car had bullet holes.
“There were so many people that needed help and I was unaware of it at the time, but I came across them not going in with that mentality because my mentality was focused on getting to my employees,” said Velasquez.
Another couple, Andres and Consuelo Yslas, also helped.
“We’re not heroes,” said Yslas, “I’m a retired police officer for 34 years and the police department officers don’t consider themselves heroes.” He and his wife were in different departments of the store when the shooting happened.
That’s when Yslas says he ran to his car to get his handgun, “I heard the clacking of the AK-47 and I’m accustomed to that sound and it just sounded clack, clack, clack, clack.”
The Velasquez’s daughter, Linda Duarte, says the family now shares a bond with the three people who helped her parents. “Miracles exist,” she said.
“God is with us, he sent three miracles to help my parents. Three angels that were there with them.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses to get them through their fathers funeral, which will be held in El Paso.
