Loved ones share details of El Paso victims

On Wednesday, The Dispatch presented short biographies of the nine people killed by a gunman early Sunday in a Dayton entertainment district. Today, we present the stories of some of the 22 victims killed by a gunman at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday: shot, her grandmother called Fuentes’ mother.

“They were just crying, telling us that it hurt where they shot them at; it hurt,” Fuentes said.

Both were hospitalized, but 77-year-old Juan Velazquez, who was shot in the side of his abdomen, died Monday. His wife was shot in the face and abdomen, but relatives said her prognosis is good.

Cruz Velazquez told The New York Times that his father, who was born in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, moved first to Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, and then to Denver, where he lived for 30 years. He eventually moved to El Paso because it was peaceful.

“He fought to get ahead in the United States,” said Cruz Velazquez, who said his father had become a U.S. citizen. David Johnson, who was fatally shot in Saturday’s attack in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, is flanked by granddaughter Kaitlyn-rose Melendez and wife Kathy in this family photo. He saved the two in the store, a daughter says.

“an angel” to Antonio Basco, her husband of more than two decades.basco told KFOX-TV that he and Reckard were together for 22 years, and that her kindness and selflessness were incomparable.”i mean, you didn’t even have to be there to talk to her. You could just look at how she was, how she acted, how she presented herself. She was an awesome lady,” he said. “You see Margie, more or less, was the brains of the family.”basco said he and Reckard knew there was something between them as soon as they met, and their life together was like something out of a fairy tale. Reckard was the strong one, he said, and she’s “going to be missed a lot.””we were gonna live together and die together,” he said. “That was our plan.”

father, my mother would be destroyed. Maybe that’s why he decided to take them together.”

Both were born in Mexico; they settled east of Los Angeles to raise their family, and they retired to El Paso about two decades ago.

Javier Amir Rodriguez, 15, was starting his sophomore year in high school.

Valeria Chavez, a cousin, told KFOX-TV that Rodriquez was at the Walmart with an uncle who described what happened.

“He told me my cousin had made eye contact with the shooter, and ... as soon as the shooter walked in, he grabbed my cousin. He says he saw the shooter shoot him,” Chavez said.

Jordan Anchondo, a mother of three, apparently died while protecting her 2-month-old son from the hail of bullets, her sister said.

Leta Jamrowski of El Paso spoke to The Associated Press at the University Medical Center of El Paso, where her nephew was being treated for broken bones — the result of his mother’s fall.

“From the baby’s injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him,” she said.

Andre Anchondo, Jordan’s husband, had recently turned his life around after struggles with drug dependence and run-ins with the law, a friend recalled.

Koteiba “Koti” Azzam said in a phone interview from San Marcos, Texas, that his friend “had the character and the charisma.”

Azzam said Andre Anchondo had started a business in El Paso, building things from granite and stone, and made it successful through hard work. He also was on the verge of completing a family home.

“It makes you question your faith almost,” said Azzam, who is Muslim. “But God didn’t have a part in it. The hands of man altered my friend’s life in a drastic way.”

Angie Englisbee, 86, loved to watch sports and “General Hospital” on television, but a relative said it was her children and religious faith that drew her ultimate devotion.

Jacob Hallberg wrote a tribute on his Facebook page saying the woman was widowed at an early age and raised seven children on her own.

“Working numerous jobs at the same time to feed her family, life was hard. Through her hard work her children all became strong but extremely caring and compassionate and productive members of our community,” he wrote.

Hallberg described his grandmother as praying daily, attending Mass regularly at her Roman Catholic church and always being ready for company.

“She made the very best red beans and rice and red chili pozole. She always had a hot pot of fresh coffee for her visitors and a quick meal,” he wrote.