Man from Denver loses stepfather in El Paso shooting, mother still in hospital

A man from Denver lost his stepfather in the shooting outside a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Alvaro Mena told ABC News this week that his parents Juan and Nicholasa Velazquez were shot outside the store Saturday night.

Both were transported to the hospital following the shooting, but Mr. Velazquez died Monday morning.

Mena says when he heard his parents had been shot, he drove to the Denver International Airport and got on the first plane to Texas.

When asked if he ever thought his family would be a victim of a mass a shooting, he said, “We had talked about it because you never know. You’re not safe anywhere but this [El Paso] is the safest place, so we never thought it would happen here.”

He’s referring to El Paso often topping the lists of safest cities in the U.S.

Mena thinks his parents were targeted by the shooter because they were Hispanic.

He explains, “we’re afraid to go out to Walmart. We’re afraid to go out to the streets because we feel like we’re being hunted ’cause of our color, our skin color.”

Mrs. Velazquez is still recovering in the hospital.