Left inset: Roberto Acevedo (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation). Center inset: Surveillance footage allegedly shows Roberto Acevedo’s friends shooting shopper Nathaniel Baez inside a Florida Walmart (WPLG/YouTube). Right inset: Nathaniel Baez (WPLG). Background: First responders at the Florida Walmart where Nathaniel Baez was shot and killed (WPLG/YouTube).
A Florida Walmart worker told his “armed friends” to come to the store to take out a shopper who “glared at him” the wrong way, which led to bullets flying near the checkout area — leaving the customer dead and an elderly man shot, according to court documents.
The family of slain shopper, Nathaniel Baez, 23, is suing Walmart and its worker, Roberto Acevedo, for the 2023 shooting attack. A recent filing by his lawyer, Todd Michaels, describes how Acevedo “called his friends to the store” to confront and “fight” Baez after a confrontation between the two of them left Acevedo thinking “he was going to get jumped” by Baez.
Acevedo, who was 20 at the time, was allegedly working as a “digital shopper” on the floor of the Florida City superstore. A digital shopper is an employee who receives online orders and walks around the store with a cart, pulling items off the shelf for customers.
“On July 19, 2023, Nathaniel Baez, a few friends, and a small child had come to Walmart to shop,” the recent filing says.
“While they were shopping, they encountered Roberto Acevedo who was in uniform, on the clock, and performing his work as a digital shopper,” the document explains. “Part of his training was to position his large cart in such a way that it did not block the aisle, or cause an obstruction to shoppers. He violated that training, and left his cart in the middle of the aisle, causing customers to have to file around it. As the Baez group squeezed between the cart and a freezer, Acevedo claims that one of Nathaniel’s friends glared at him, and muttered something including the word ‘f—’ under his breath at him.”
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
According to the filing, Acevedo “perceived this as a threat and believed that the Baez Group was going to jump him,” so he got in touch with his pals and told them to come target Baez.
“He got it in his head that these people are going to jump me and instead of doing the one thing he was required to do which is call your manager, he decided to call his armed friends to find out what this guy said or why he looked at him,” Michaels told the local ABC affiliate WPLG on Friday.
Instead of notifying management, Acevedo went to the back, got his phone, and called his sister, letting her know that he felt he was in danger, according to the recent court filing. He then allegedly called his brother, and then his brother’s girlfriend who was with Acevedo’s pals Steve Lestin and Ji’mari Hodge.
“Lestin regularly carried a firearm, and Hodge had previously been arrested for firearm possession,” the filing says. “Had Acevedo simply followed his proscribed duty and notified a manager, this incident would never have occurred … The likely outcome is they would have had Acevedo wait in the back until the Baez group was gone, had security watch the Baez Group who was wholly unaware that there was any issue, and none of this would have occurred.”
Instead, Acevedo allegedly “summoned” Lestin and Hodge, which “dramatically increased the likelihood of violence occurring” and “escalated the incident,” with the two men bringing “firearms into the equation,” the filing says.
“Upon Lestin and Hodge arriving at the store, they joined with Acevedo and went to find the Baez group,” the document recounts. “Upon approaching the Baez group, one of Baez’s friends was holding the small child. He passed the child to someone else to keep the child out of harm’s way as these strangers approached asking essentially why they had a problem with [Acevedo].”
Words were exchanged and punches flew, according to Baez’s family, which led to Lestin taking out his gun and opening fire, “killing Baez and injuring an elderly man who was standing near the checkout area with his wife,” the filing says.
“This entire incident would have been avoided had Acevedo, on the clock and working for Walmart simply followed his training and duty, and notified management,” the document charges. “Instead, his actions led to a murder of an innocent customer.”
Michaels says Walmart has “firm policies” in place requiring employees to “observe and report — the same duty generally held by an unarmed security guard — should they see any violent or potentially violent activity, should they perceive a threat, or should they notice anything out of the ordinary.”
This responsibility is not optional, according to the lawyer.
“Should they encounter any such situation, the employee must immediately notify a salaried manager if possible, and if not, call the police,” the recent filing says. “Salaried management is trained in how to deal with the situations that may arise.”
Acevedo, who is charged with battery, allegedly had a violent and “checkered” past before Walmart hired him. “He also reported an altercation in the store in the days leading up to the murder of Nathaniel Baez,” according to the filing.
“You destroyed a family,” Baez’s mother, Betsabe Santos, told WPLG.
Lestin is facing a charge of second-degree murder and attempted murder for the 2023 shooting. Hodge is facing a charge of battery.
The Baez lawsuit argues that Walmart ultimately bears responsibility for what happened because Acevedo was “on the clock” and the store “owed a duty to its customers, invitees, and the public, to maintain its premises in a condition reasonably safe for use by its customers, invitees, and the public.”
Walmart has not responded to requests for comment about the suit. A spokesperson released the following statement after the shooting: “We are saddened by what happened in our Florida City store Wednesday, and our thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones. One associate has been suspended. We’ll continue working closely with local law enforcement through the course of their investigation.”
The post Walmart worker tells ‘armed friends’ to come take out shopper who ‘glared at him’ the wrong way, bullets fly and customers get shot near checkout area: Lawsuit first appeared on Law & Crime.
