EL PASO, Texas (KTEP) - Audio and videos recorded by the relatives of a victim in the Walmart mass shooting filed in district court in El Paso include detailed conversations in which a man allegedly threatened them.
Attorney Justin Underwood filed the audio and video on Friday. He was appointed to represent the family of Alexander Gerhard Hoffman, who was killed in the mass shooting.
The family says the voice on the recordings is Roger Rodriguez, a municipal judge in Vinton who told the Hoffmans he worked for the El Paso’s District Attorney’s office.
In one section of audio, Thomas Hoffman, Alexander’s son, is allegedly heard talking to Rodriguez about a day they were at a store in Juárez called Sanborns.
“That as a friend, you’re good and as an enemy, even better. I mean, I take that as you trying to threaten her,” Thomas Hoffman says.
“I did not threaten your mother,” Rodriguez replies.
The audio also details Rodriguez’s alleged role in a mysterious email sent to media that falsely claimed District Court Judge Sam Medrano’s court was under investigation.
It was sent from an email address belonging to Hoffmans widow Rosa Maria Valdez Garcia and was signed by their son Alexander. On the recording, Rodriguez blames Alexander Hoffmans daughter, Elise Hoffman-Taus, for questioning whether her relatives really wrote the email.
“Everything would have turned out alright, but no one told us about your sister,” according to the translated transcript of a conversation between Rodriguez and Thomas Hoffman.
Underwood was appointed to represent the family in the case by District Court Judge Sam Medrano on August 17th.
On one recording the man identified as Rodriguez in the court filing encourages Hoffman to avoid contact with the District Attorney’s office.
On Thursday, Underwood filed allegations against Rodriguez and District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, accusing them of victimizing the Hoffman family. Underwood, a private attorney, stated he made contact with the family of Alexander Hoffman, after prosecutors said they could not reach them.
District Attorney Rosales denied Rodriguez works for her office during a hearing last week.
This story will be updated.
