"He was taunting them": Family members share moments of terror from El Paso shooting
El Paso, Texas — The death toll from a shooting in El Paso, Texas, rose to 22 on Monday. Two people, including an elderly woman, died for their wounds in the hospital. They are the first deaths since Saturday, when a gunman opened fire in a Walmart.
Stephanie Melendez's father, David Johnson, was always by her side. On Saturday, he was by the side of his wife and Stephanie's 9-year-old daughter, shielding them from a gunman.
"My mom and my daughter wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him and what he did and I couldn't even imagine, my daughter, I almost lost her," Melendez said.
Johnson is one of 22 people killed at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday, less than three miles from the Mexican border. El Paso is considered one of the safest cities in America. Last year, the city had a total of 23 murders. In just one day, that number was nearly matched.
Among the victims are new parents Jordan and Andre Anchondo, who died protecting their 2-month-old baby.
CBS News is learning more about the heroes and the people they saved. A girl's soccer team was in front of the Walmart, selling lemonade. When Ray Garcia got a call from a father who was too far away to help, Garcia said he raced to the scene, pulling several kids and two moms to safety.
"I got them out of the scene, came back for one of the moms, her name's Maribel, she was shot in her legs. She couldn't, she couldn't walk. We got her out with one of the grocery carts," Garcia said.
Garcia and Maribel Latin's sons play on the same baseball team. Latin recounted the shooting from her hospital bed.
"I had to pretend I was dead and he was right next to me. And he shot eight more rounds and all I could say is, 'God, please take care of my children and please don't let him do anything to my daughter or any of the girls,'" Latin said.
Latin is recovering in the same hospital as the other woman Garcia rescued, Jessica Garcia.
CBS News found Jessica's parents, Norma and Don Coca, at the hospital. On Monday, they shared what their daughter said happened inside that Walmart during those moments of terror. Also inside were their 5-year-old and 11-year-old grandchildren.
"The guy set off the fire alarm so everybody could run out and he could see them to shoot them and all he kept saying is, 'I'm gonna get you,'" Norma Coca said.
"He was taunting them, he was telling everybody to come out," Don Coca said.
Jessica's husband, Guillermo, has undergone five surgeries and is now in a medically induced coma.
"It's just hard when you see your kids and grandkids and the kids say they 'saw my mommy and my daddy get shot and a lady just died right in front of me, grandma.' And it's, it's hard. Just to see her, she just keeps reliving the day over and over. She can't sleep, she shakes, wakes up crying and, my daughter, it's just hard," Norma Coca said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up for Jessica and her family.
