Travis White and Erika Mitchell

Introduction

Travis Lathan White, 44, and Erika Latrice Mitchell, 42, are two Norfolk, Virginia, residents charged with second-degree murder in the death of Bert Atienza, a 77-year-old shopper who was beaten inside a Walmart on North Military Highway on June 7, 2026, and died of blunt head trauma at a hospital the next day. The two are, according to police and court records, the parents of a 17-year-old Walmart employee who had argued with Atienza minutes earlier over a shopping-cart near-collision. The case drew national attention in September 2026 when Atienza’s widow gave television interviews and the New York Post reported that the original felony charges had been upgraded to murder. Both are charged, not convicted, and presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Background Information

Bert Atienza was a retired accountant who had met his wife Josephine decades earlier in the Philippines, where she was a bank teller; they were married 42 years and had planned to retire together there, according to Josephine’s WTKR account.

On Sunday, June 7, 2026, the couple stopped at the Walmart at 1170 North Military Highway in Norfolk after church to grocery shop. Police said officers responded to a reported assault there around 3:20 p.m. According to Josephine, a 17-year-old store employee tore down the aisle and nearly struck her with a heavy cart without apologizing, and Bert confronted the worker. “You almost hit my wife with your heavy cart, and you did not even say excuse me or apologize to her,” she recalled him saying. She said words were exchanged and that the employee threw a can toward the couple as they walked away; it did not hit them.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from Norfolk police statements, store surveillance video described by WTKR News 3 and the New York Post, and the account of the victim’s widow as reported by WTKR. White and Mitchell have been charged but not tried; nothing described here has been adjudicated in court, and both are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. White’s attorney disputes the characterization of the conduct, as described in the Current Status section below.

According to Josephine’s account, the teenage employee called her parents, and White and Mitchell arrived at the store minutes later and confronted the 77-year-old as he browsed the cleaning supplies aisle. “They crowded my husband, one of the adults hit him in the face. He fell down on the floor. I was terrified,” Josephine told WTKR. Surveillance video of the encounter, obtained by WTKR, shows Atienza being shoved from behind, grabbed and punched as onlookers moved away, then shoved into a shelving unit; as he collapsed to the floor, one of the suspects kicked him, according to the New York Post’s account of the footage. Josephine said she told the attackers to stop because her husband had heart problems.

The video shows Josephine kneeling on the floor holding her motionless husband after the two attackers walked away. She told WTKR that Bert could still speak: “Help me, get up.” “I look at him again. He has no more consciousness,” she said. Atienza was taken to a hospital, where he died on June 8, 2026. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of death blunt head trauma and the manner of death a homicide — a ruling that established how Atienza died, not who is criminally responsible.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Days after the beating, Norfolk detectives charged White and Mitchell — both of Norfolk — with malicious wounding by mob, aggravated malicious wounding, and conspiracy to commit a felony, as reported by WAVY and recounted by the New York Post; court records reviewed by The Post later showed the charges increased to second-degree murder, with both defendants held without bond, according to WTKR.

The 17-year-old employee, whom neither police nor the outlets covering the case have named because of her age, faces charges of assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding, and conspiracy to commit a felony, according to police. A Walmart representative told News 3 that the employee no longer works for the company and that the retailer would continue working with law enforcement.

The case received fresh national attention in mid-September 2026, when Josephine Atienza spoke publicly about her husband’s death in an exclusive WTKR interview that was then picked up by the Daily Mail and the New York Post. “I lost a husband of 42 years, and my son lost a father,” she told WTKR. “There is an anger and bitterness in me. If only I could turn back time.” She said she is haunted by the violence and wants justice. The Post’s September 19, 2026 report on the upgraded murder charges was amplified by the newspaper’s X account to its millions of followers.

Current Status

White and Mitchell remain charged with second-degree murder and are being held without bond in Norfolk, with the case pending in court; no trial date had been reported in the coverage retrieved for this page. Defense attorney James Broccoletti, who represents White, told WTKR the confrontation was not premeditated: “They did not go there, intending for any of this to happen. It was an emotional situation. Their daughter called them. She was distraught. They went, as any parent would do, to try to make sure that their daughter was safe and then the situation kind of erupted. It was spontaneous almost.” He argued the evidence shows at most a misdemeanor simple assault, saying “there is nothing that goes further than that, that indicates that there was any chance or likelihood or probability that this man would die as a result of this.” No comparable public defense statement from Mitchell had been reported as of this writing. The teenage employee’s case was also pending, with no reported outcome.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Before the charges, White and Mitchell were private Norfolk residents with no public profile; they now face potential decades in prison if convicted and are held without bond while the case proceeds. Their names are permanently attached to a killing that drew national coverage, alongside booking photos released by the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office. Walmart confirmed the teenage employee’s departure, and the incident has become part of the broader national conversation about retail confrontations turning lethal and adults physically intervening in their children’s workplace disputes — with the courts yet to decide what actually happened and who is criminally responsible.