In the Aftermath of a Massacre, Helping a Community With Its Legal Needs

summer 2020 justice in action

One year ago this month, an alleged white supremacist drove 11 hours from a Dallas suburb, walked into the most popular Walmart in El Paso, and shot dozens of men and women shopping for groceries on a Saturday morning.

He killed 23 people and injured 23 others.

Almost immediately, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid joined with the City of El Paso to set up a booth at the crisis center downtown. In just a few days, the cases piled up.

“We took this shooting very personally,” said Alberto Mesta, branch manager for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s El Paso office. “The shooter came specifically to target the people of El Paso: Latinos. El Paso is a big small town, especially in the legal community. So when the call when out, we stood up.”

Within days, it became clear there was more work than Mesta’s office could handle. But they were not alone. The El Paso Probate Bar Association reached out to help.

Three weeks after the shooting, TRLA, with the El Paso Bar Association, gave a presentation on how to assist the shooting victims with their legal needs. Soon afterward, many El Paso probate attorneys had stepped up and started representing dozens of victims with a variety of legal problems, from employment to housing to public benefits. Survivors of the victims needed help with the estates of their lost relatives, killed before they had drafted a will.

For these efforts on behalf of the Walmart victims, the El Paso Probate Bar Association was awarded the Pro Bono Award in August as part of the 2020 Indigent Defense Awards. In July, the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Issues Section also honored the probate association.

“We were really gladdened that they stepped up to take these cases,” Mesta said. “They deserve this.”

The quick response to the legal needs of the Walmart shooting victims is an example of how other communities can activate the aid of local attorneys during this human-made crisis.

One of the best strategies to emerge from the collaboration between TRLA and the probate bar, Mesta said, is the use of Special Needs Trusts.

 These trusts allow victims to receive substantial cash donations, primarily through online fundraising campaigns like GoFundMe, without losing public benefits like Medicaid.

This work alone took approximately nine months to navigate. Mesta said the long timeline illustrates an important point.

“A lot of these issues are not going to go away. They’re going to be here for years,” Mesta said, “This is something we’re going to be working on long after the general public starts forgetting about it.”

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