Walmart has quietly hired off-duty officers at its stores in El Paso, Texas, where a gunman police say targeted Mexicans opened fire in a store in August and killed 22 people.
The retail giant reopened the store where the attack happened Thursday amid ongoing lawsuits over security on the day of the attack, when Walmart didn’t have a guard at the store.
About 50 shoppers lined up early to enter the renovated location, and they streamed past dozens of sheriff’s deputies, security guards and store employees once the doors opened. Workers greeted the shoppers with cheers of “Welcome back to Walmart!”
Police say Patrick Crusius drove more than 10 hours from his grandparents’ house where he lived in a Dallas suburb to carry out the attack. Crusius, 21, has pleaded not guilty. There was a time that Walmart hired off-duty officers and for some time prior (to) August 3rd that ceased,” El Paso police spokesman Enrique Carrillo said in an email. He declined to provide more details.
When Police Chief Greg Allen first revealed the phasing out of officers during a City Council meeting, council members discussed possibly requiring that off-duty officers be hired at large stores, though the idea hasn’t been implemented. Instead, Walmart quietly started… Stars and Stripes