El Paso shooting ‘hero’ stands by bottle-tossing claim, threatens to sue police for saying he didn’t
One of the Walmart shooting victims has pushed out a new statement, threatening to sue police, after weeks of questions about what he claimed happened during the attack.
Chris Grant was one of the victims of the Aug. 3 attack. Along with the 22 people who died, Grant was one of the 26 people shot and injured during the attack.
Grant was also one of the victims present in court at the arraignment for suspected attacker Patrick Crusius on Thursday.
Grant was interviewed after waking up from a two-day coma following the shootings, and he claimed he threw bottles at the gunman to slow him down and prevent others from getting shot. President Trump called Grant a “hero,” but police said he only acted in “self-preservation.”
The El Paso Police Department has said video evidence doesn’t back up Grant’s claims. But the Grant family issued a strongly worded rebuttal on Friday and suggested possible legal action against EPPD.
“If this whole statement, as it relates to the inconsistencies relate to having him having claimed he’s a hero then I wouldn’t really rule any litigation out at this point,” said Rosana Narvaez, a spokesperson for the Grant family.
El Paso police spokesperson Sgt. Enrique Carrillo responded to Narvaez in a statement to ABC-7 on Friday.
“I’m not saying he lied, I’m just saying what he said happened did not transpire according to what was revealed on video,” Carrillo said.
The Grant family said it understands memories of traumatic events aren’t always rock solid. All they say they want is to be able to review the video footage police are talking about.
“Once that video is released and the Grant family can see that video and the whole world can see that video, if in fact it ever is released, then at that point if the statements that were made are in fact true and correct and Mr. Grant’s recollection was inconsistent, then there may not be a cause of action,” Narvaez said.
El Paso police said their comments are specifically about Grant’s own statements.
“He didn’t throw bottles. And I won’t go beyond what I’ve already said about self-preservation. But as far as retracting the statement, it wasn’t meant to paint him in a bad light. It was an answer to a question about his actions,” Carrillo said.
The police have repeatedly said the bottle throwing that Grant spoke of did not happen.
KVIA 2019
