A toddler and grandma were killed at Publix — and a family reveals why they’re suing

The parents of a 1-year-old boy and his grandmother who were shot and killed in the produce department of a South Florida Publix are suing the Lakeland-based grocery chain for wrongful death.

READ MORE: 1-year-old boy, grandmother among three dead after a Palm Beach County Publix shooting

The suit was filed Wednesday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court by Palm Beach Gardens’ firm Domnick Cunningham & Whalen, on behalf of the Varone family. It alleges that Publix should have known a crime like this could have taken place at the Crossroads store in Royal Palm Beach and failed to take adequate precautions.

Publix declined to comment on the lawsuit.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on pending litigation,” Maria Brous, director of communications for Publix, told the Miami Herald on Thursday.

But the family’s lawyer had plenty to say.

“The family has a case because corporations like Publix have an obligation to keep their premises safe for their customers and for their workers,” lead trial attorney and firm shareholder Sean Domnick told the Miami Herald on Thursday.

What happened at Publix?

On June 10, 2021, Litha Varone, 69, went grocery shopping at the Publix at the Crossroads with her grandson Sam, who was 1.

According to Palm Beach County deputies, Timothy J. Wall, walked into the Publix just after 11:30 a.m., and made his way to the produce section, where he encountered Varone and her grandson.

Deputies say Wall, 55, pulled a gun out of his bag and shot the toddler at point-blank range. Varone “engaged in a life struggle with Wall. However, he eventually overpowered her, then shot and brutally killed her as well. He then turned his gun on himself,” the suit reads.

There was no known motive or relationship between Wall and his two victims, according to detectives.

What the lawsuit says

The suit cites about 40 previous reported crimes at or near the Crossroads location from June 2018 to June 2021, just before the shooting. The suit suggests that the supermarket chain should have provided visible security given the number of incidents.

The suit seeks “some accountability and some justice,” Domnick said. “We’re looking to say corporations like Publix that have billions of dollars a year in profit, that while they’re investing in technology so that they can save money so that they have fewer cashiers and we have to do our own checkout, that they ought to be investing in technology for safety as well.”

Gun-related figures

The suit details the culture of violence nationwide and the number of incidents from Jan. 1, 2020 to May 14, 2022, that involved guns and gun-related deaths. There were 448 incidents and 137 deaths among 12 large national retailers in the survey period. Publix was fifth on that list provided by gunviolencearchive.org, with 16 incidents and five deaths.

Publix has 1,306 stores in the southeastern U.S., 838 of which are in Florida.

What could security do?

Could a uniformed security guard have intervened? Would one have spotted Wall as a suspicious person before he made his way to the produce department and into the path of Varone and her grandson?

Domnick, and the family’s suit, believes the store should have flagged Wall because of his actions that day.

The suit notes that Wall first entered the Crossroads’ Publix just before 9 a.m. He was wearing a mask, a black jacket and carrying a golf club. He also had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and he made a purchase at the register inside the store.

Wall left about five minutes later but stood near the exit for three minutes before leaving the Publix, but then hung around the Crossroads strip mall for several hours before returning to the store. The Crossroads Publix had no uniformed security in place and it didn’t have gun detectors in place, according to the suit.

What the family said

The Varone family released a statement through Domnick Cunningham & Whalen:

“There is no path that will ever take away the crushing grief that has engulfed our family. ... Nothing can ever take away the profound sense of emptiness in our hearts but there is a path that may prevent another family from experiencing this type of anguish.”

WPTV-Channel 5 reported that the Crossroads Publix was demolished in June to make way for a new, more modern Publix store.