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Several recent incidents at the local Walmart in Devine have residents on edge. Reports of men following and approaching female shoppers have come in one after another on social media. Two of the men actually followed a woman out of the store.
Devine PD is asking victims to please call them instead of just posting online, so they can identify subjects and address the situation.
“In one case, the two men actually followed a woman out of the store and all the way to the frontage road, and were on both sides of her vehicle, on bicycles, from what I understand,” Chief Kandi Benavides stated. “She took a different route home, but still, no one called us. After seeing social media posts, I followed up with a few of the women in these cases because I want to get to the bottom of it.”
So far, police made contact with one juvenile male and one adult male from Guatemala who were identified.
“The two men who were identified were spoken to. We let them know we are aware of what has been occurring and unless they are shopping at Walmart, they don’t need to be there,” Chief Benavides said. “They did not really have an explanation as to why they were there.”
Benavides notes that Devine PD has officers patrolling in Devine 24/7.
“There is no excuse for this kind of behavior and we won’t tolerate it,” Benavides said. “Please call us and we will send someone immediately. We will make contact with you, and then address the suspects, so that it is properly documented. So if it happens again, and it is the same subjects, then we can take further action.”
“A third subject (seen in footage) will be contacted when we are notified of his return to Walmart in Devine,” Devine Lieutenant Chris Andrews said.
“Unfortunately, we were not notified until after the fact in these cases. We made contact with each victim for every post that was brought to our attention,” Andrews added. “If something occurs, please notify the police department immediately, and/or store management.”
Earlier this August, one local family shared their story of one of these incidents.
“First, my daughter was approached by a man who started speaking Spanish to her. She acted like she didn’t understand him, so he moved closer to her and repeated it until she got out of line and moved to another register. She asked for someone to walk her to her car. It scared her to death,” the family stated.
“The next night, while I was at Walmart, I could tell I was being followed by two men with an empty basket. I called my husband to come to the front and pick me u. In the meantime, my husband noticed there was a white van in parking lot with Mexico plates and a man standing out by it talking on the phone. Then another man came out of the stores and got in the van. I will not be going back there. They need to hire security officers!”
Devine PD is urging citizens who encounter situations like this to please call 830-663-4403. After 5 pm, this same number will transfer to county dispatch who will notify an officer in Devine immediately.
“We have to be aware of our surroundings everywhere we go,” Chief Benavides adds. “Some of these women have said they felt something was not right but didn’t want to bother us. So instead they asked an unarmed employee to walk them out to their car. So I asked, without a weapon, what could that person have done to stop someone from harming you? Follow you gut–if something doesn’t feel right–please call us. We are here to help. We want our community to feel safe.”