EL PASO, Texas — Patrick Crusius pled guilty Wednesday in the mass shooting at an El Paso-area Walmart in 2019 that left 23 people dead and dozens more injured.
Crusius had faced 90 federal charges in connection with the Aug. 3, 2019, shooting in the Cielo-Vista-area store and the surrounding parking lot.
The federal indictment said Crusius drove from the Dallas suburb where he lived to El Paso with a variant of an AK-47 assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Once in El Paso, he allegedly uploaded a racist tirade online “This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” he wrote. “I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.”
He was charged with 23 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, 23 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, 22 counts of hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, and 22 counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
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Prosecutors announce:Feds will not seek death penalty in El Paso Walmart shooting that killed 23
Authorities expected a packed courtroom with victims and family members of those who were killed attending, though some who witnessed the attack said they wouldn’t go.
Angry that federal prosecutors didn’t seek death penalty
Adria Gonzalez was in the Walmart store and reported hearing the gunman shouting epithets against Mexicans as she helped panicked shoppers toward the store exits.
She told the Associated Press she wouldn’t attend Wednesday’s hearing. Gonzalez, like many in El Paso, is angry that federal prosecutors passed on seeking the death penalty in the racist attack.
“It’s a slap in the face for us Latinos,” Gonzalez told the AP.
While the federal case has moved forward, state proceedings against Crusius still are pending. In state court, Crusius faces one count of capital murder of multiple persons and 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The El Paso County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty.
Aside from El Paso victims, many of the dead and wounded were citizens of Mexico.
Former El Paso Mayor Dee Margo: It’s too personal
Former El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said he planned to attend the arraignment. Margo, who served as mayor during the mass shooting, said he attended all 23 funerals for those who died.
“I have said all along that I don’t think we can heal until he has been prosecuted,” Margo said. “I am disappointed that the federal hate crimes death penalty is off the table, due to the administration’s determination. But I am also hopeful that once this is over with, and his plea is adjudicated, it can then go to the state courts and he can be prosecuted with the death penalty. I have said from day one, I want him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that the full penalty apply.”
Margo said he keeps the prayer cards from every funeral on his desk at home.
“It’s too personal,” he said. “I’m not going to let them be forgotten.”
Remembering the El Paso Walmart shooting victims:
A majority of the 23 victims and dozens of wounded were of Mexican descent or Mexican citizens.
- Jordan Anchondo
- Maribel Campos
- Arturo Benavidez
- Andre Pablo Anchondo
- Javier Amir Rodriguez
- David Alvah Johnson
- Sara Ester Regalado Moriel
- Angelina Silva Englisbee
- Adolfo Cerros Hernandez
- Juan de Dios Veláquez Chairez
- Gloria Irma Márquez
- Maria Flores
- Maria Eugencia Legarreta Roth
- Raul Flores
- Jorge Calvillo Garcia
- Alexander Gerhard Hoffman
- Elsa Mendoza de la Mora
- Luis Alfonzo Juarez
- Ivan Filiberto Manzano
- Margie Reckard
- Leonardo Campos Jr.
- Teresa Sanchez
- Guillermo “Memo” Garcia
Civil rights advocate: We hope the process goes faster
The El Paso-based Border Network for Human Rights has held vigils for those who were killed in the Walmart shooting and has marched against gun violence and the pernicious racism that motivated the white gunman to kill people of color, including Mexican nationals and people of Mexican descent.
Executive Director Fernando Garcia said his organization continues to work with the families of victims, who have agonized at the pace of justice afforded to the defendant.
“The people that we know, they are frustrated because justice has not come as rapidly as expected,” he said. “Why did it take years to get to this point? When people of color commit crimes they are rapidly sentenced. Systemic racism is part the judicial system; a white person has more legal privilege than others. It has been dragging on for so many years and the wound is still open.”
Garcia added, “We hope that the process goes faster, and the families can close the chapter.”
USA TODAY NETWORK
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