El Paso police dispute man’s story of heroism during Walmart shooting

EL PASO —  Surveillance video does not back up the story told by a man who was honored this week at the White House by President Trump for his actions during the Aug. 3 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart, police said.

Christopher Grant has said he threw bottles to try to stop the attack, which left 22 people dead. Grant, who was shot twice, was among those recognized this week by Trump, although his mother received the certificate because Grant had been temporarily detained by the U.S. Secret Service because of an outstanding warrant.

A grand jury indicted the suspected Walmart shooter, Patrick Crusius, on suspicion of capital murder on Thursday.

At the ceremony, Trump said Grant was picking up snacks for his children when he encountered Crusius. “Chris grabbed — listen to this — soda bottles and anything else in front of him, and began hurling them at the gunman, distracting him from the other shoppers and causing the shooter to turn toward Chris and fire at Chris, whereby Chris suffered two serious gunshot wounds,” the president said.

But El Paso Police Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said video did not match Grant’s account.

“His actions were captured by surveillance cameras, and they are not as described by Mr. Grant,” Carrillo said. “We are not demeaning his reaction, which are of basic human instincts, but they amount to an act of self-preservation and nothing above that.”

Grant did not return a message seeking comment on Thursday.