El Paso Walmart manager relives mass shooting terror at his store

In his first television interview since last Saturday’s tragic shooting that took the lives of 22 innocent El Pasoans, Walmart store manager Robert Evans sat down with ABC-7 to replay the harrowing events in and around the gunman’s terror and the heroic efforts of the Walmart employees that led customers to safety.

Robert Evans’ world stopped on a dime last Saturday morning, when he saw an active shooter in his parking lot, encroaching upon the store he is tasked with protecting.

“He was out in the center of the parking lot, walking toward the center of the store,” said Evans. “When the first shot went off, it drew a lot of attention. Every that was outside kind of was like ‘What is this? What was that noise?’ Everybody’s attention was drawn to their parking lot.”

But rather than run to safety he turned around and ran inside his store.

Evans immediately issued a “Code-Brown” on his radio, signaling an active shooter to his employees and the customers in the store.

As the gunman entered, Evans urged everyone in the store to the rear in an effort evacuate to safety. Evans tells ABC-7 the story of how both customers and associates aided victims in the face of danger.

“Everybody, and not just the associates in the store doing this stuff, the customers,” says Evans. “Several customers of our community turned around and helped hold somebody and get them to medical attention, and were really a big part of possibly of saving a life.”

In response to Saturday’s shooting, the Walmart corporation announced a $400,000 donation to support the El Paso community.

In the interview with ABC-7’s Nate Ryan, Evans recounts the moments leading up to the shooting, the time spent evacuating customers, and the aftermath of shooter’s rampage. You can watch that interview in the video player at the top of this article.