The widow of 77-year-old Bert D. Atienza is speaking out for the first time about the deadly assault that took her husband’s life inside a Walmart in Norfolk, Virginia, following what she says began as a shopping cart dispute with a teenage employee.
Josephine Atienza, who was married to Bert for 42 years, described the terrifying moments she witnessed as her husband was attacked on June 7, 2026, and the devastating aftermath that has left her grappling with loneliness and loss.
According to Josephine, the couple had just attended church and stopped at the Walmart on North Military Highway for groceries when the incident unfolded. She told WTKR News 3 that Bert confronted a 17-year-old Walmart employee after the employee nearly hit her with a cart and did not apologize.
“He said, ‘You almost hit my wife with your heavy cart, and you did not even say excuse me or apologize to her,'” Josephine recalled.
Words were exchanged, and the employee allegedly threw a can toward the couple as they walked away, but it did not strike them, according to Josephine. The couple then continued shopping.
Minutes later, Josephine said the employee’s parents arrived and confronted Bert.
“They crowded my husband, one of the adults hit him in the face. He fell down on the floor. I was terrified. I don’t know what’s going on,” she told WTKR.
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Josephine said her husband continued to be kicked while he was on the floor. She pleaded for the attack to stop, telling those involved that Bert had heart problems. She held her husband as they waited for an ambulance.
“My husband was still able to speak, he said, ‘help me, get up,’ but I told him no you’re bleeding. Your mouth is bleeding. Ambulance is coming,” she said. “I [looked] at him again. He [had] no more consciousness.”
Bert D. Atienza, a Virginia Beach resident originally from the Philippines, died on June 8, 2026, a day after the assault, Norfolk police said. The Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined he died from blunt head trauma and ruled his death a homicide.
Two adults, teen employee face criminal charges
Erika Mitchell, 42, and Travis White, 44, have since been charged with second-degree murder, according to court records cited by WTKR. Both are being held without bond. Norfolk police initially charged Mitchell and White, both of Norfolk, with malicious wounding by mob, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony.
A 17-year-old girl also was charged with assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony, police said. Authorities have not publicly identified her because she is a juvenile.
James Broccoletti, an attorney representing White, told WTKR the encounter was not premeditated and argued that his client’s actions amounted at most to assault.
“They did not go there, intending for any of this to happen,” Broccoletti said, describing the encounter as an emotional and spontaneous situation after the couple’s daughter called them.
Josephine said she and Bert met decades ago in the Philippines, when she worked as a bank teller and he was an accountant. Born in Malabon in 1948, Bert Atienza immigrated to the United States in 1993 to join his wife and their son, Jobert, and later worked at Home Depot for 20 years.
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An avid bowler, Atienza spent his retirement traveling with family and friends across the US and Canada, according to his obituary.
Josephine said she is seeking justice for her husband as she struggles with the aftermath of the attack.
“We had many plans in our senior years. We were planning to go home to the Philippines to retire and to be with his family, but now shattered,” Josephine told WTKR News 3 earlier this week.
“I lost a husband of 42 years, and my son lost a father,” she said. “As each day passes by, I feel the pain of loneliness about being by myself now.”
Walmart said the teenage employee no longer works for the company and that it is cooperating with police.
