What are the charges against Patrick Crusius? El Paso Walmart shooting suspect could face multiple life sentences
EL PASO, TEXAS: A white supremacist who murdered 23 Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso in 2019 could face the death penalty along with multiple life sentences. The federal sentencing process for the 24-year-old Patrick Crusius began on Wednesday, July 5 after he pleaded guilty to the federal hate crime and weapons charges against him for starting one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.
Crusius was only 21 when he drove 660 miles from Allen to the El Paso Walmart Supercenter on August 3, 2019, with an AK-47 assault rifle and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He entered the supermarket and opened fire on shoppers in the parking lot, leaving 22 victims injured and 23 others dead. He was arrested shortly after the shooting and confessed to officers who stopped him at an intersection. The federal complaint claims that before Crusius launched his attack, he posted a paper online titled 'The Inconvenient Truth' in which he claimed that his action was "a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas."
What are the charges against Patrick Crusius?
Crusius has pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges including hate crimes resulting in death, use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, hate crimes involving an attempt to kill, and the use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, according to CNN. Nearly four years after the shooting, he entered the court on Wednesday, wearing a jumpsuit and handcuffs. He showed little reaction as the sentencing proceedings got underway. The sentencing continued on Thursday and is expected to last several days.
Some of the victims' families, who included Mexican citizens, traveled long distances to be present for the hearings in which relatives would give impact statements in court. Crusius still faces capital murder charges in state court and could receive the death penalty if convicted, despite agreeing to 90 consecutive life sentences to avoid it according to Reuters. Meanwhile, his attorneys have claimed that he has been diagnosed with mental disabilities which should be a 'red flag' for prosecutors. They noted that Crusius "has been diagnosed with severe, lifelong neurological and mental disabilities" and was given antipsychotic medicine after being taken into custody following the El Paso shooting, according to Daily Mail.
LISTEN: This is Paul Jamrowski, father of Jordan Anchondo, who was killed in the 2019 Walmart mass shooting in #ElPaso.
— Lianna Golden (@LiannaKFOX_CBS) July 5, 2023
Jamrowski just exited the federal courthouse where he came face-to-face with gunman Patrick Crusius, whose sentencing hearing begins today. @KFOX14 pic.twitter.com/L4ZIIB8oKC
'He lives on and you lose the life’
Relatives of the victims were seen breaking down into tears as sentencing got underway. Paul Jamrowski, the father of Jordan Anchondo, who was shot in the massacre, was seen exiting the federal court, where he had a face-to-face encounter with Crusius and he remarked that there was no justice since the gunman "lives on." "He lives on and you lose the life, and my grandkids will have to live with this now for the rest of their lives," he said, adding, "We're here to support the other families. I look at it as representing my family and my daughter, because to sit in the same courtroom as someone who killed your family member is hard. It's very, very hard, you think if you didn't do what you did I would have my child to hold and hug right now."