Two Years After Walmart Mass Shooting, El Paso Leaders See Inaction and Betrayal by Texas Officials
Days before its official unveiling on Tuesday, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego walked through the healing garden planted to honor the victims of the 2019 Walmart mass shooting.
Since the hate crime that took the lives of 23 people and left dozens more injured, Samaniego has been involved in every painstaking detail of the garden. This includes the shape — “circular, like a hug,” 23 Italian cypress trees planted by family members of the victims, and the fountains with calming cascades of water.
“The sound of water always gives us a sense of healing,” said Samaniego, a mental health therapist, who hopes the garden will honor lives lost and give people the strength to move forward. “They should never die in vain. ‘What is it I could do to make things more transformational?’”
Two years later, as El Paso remembers the victims, they’re also reminded of the broken promises made by top leadership in Texas in the wake of the shooting. The alleged gunman from North Texas drove 10 hours to El Paso to, in his own words, posted on a racist online platform, “stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Read more: https://elpasomatters.org/2021/08/02/2-years-after-walmart-mass-shooting-el-paso-leaders-see-inaction-and-betrayal-by-texas-officials/