When 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, wearing ear protection and armed with an AK-47 style rifle, approached the packed Cielo Vista Walmart last Saturday, there wasn’t an armed police officer working security there to stop him.
But, there used to be at least one off-duty officer providing security and as many as three when stores expected big crowds, according to police officers and Walmart employees who spoke to El Paso Inc. last week without giving their names.
“Even with one, it could have turned out different,” an El Paso police officer said at the crowded memorial site Thursday evening for the 22 people killed.
El Paso Inc.
