Grief center in El Paso offers resources
Authorities reveal first details of suspect’s arrest
EL PASO, Texas — El Paso opened a grief center on Tuesday to help people cope with the weekend’s mass shooting at a Walmart, in which 22 people, nearly all with Latino last names, were killed and many others were wounded.
El Paso’s police chief, Greg Allen, said investigators believe the suspected gunman, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, posted an anti-immigrant screed that appeared online shortly before the attack. Crusius is being held on capital murder charges, though federal prosecutors are also considering charging Crusius with hate crimes.
Authorities on Tuesday revealed the first details of how they arrested Crusius. El Paso police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said Crusius was driving a a Honda Civic when he stopped, got out with hands raised and surrendered to a motorcycle officer, saying he was the shooter. Carrillo said it happened about a quarter mile from the Walmart.
On Monday, Crusius was assigned a veteran public defender from San Antonio, Mark Stevens. Stevens didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment left Tuesday.
Several of the wounded victims remained hospitalized Tuesday, including at least one who was in critical condition.
One of the wounded, Octavio Ramiro Lizarde, recalled hearing gunshots ring out as he stood in line waiting to open a bank account inside the Walmart. He said he and his 15-year-old nephew, Javier Rodriguez, tried to hide in a manager’s back office.
“The shooter came, I guess he heard us. He shot him,” Ramiro Lizarde said at a news conference at Del Sol Medical Center, where he has been being treated for a gunshot wound to the foot. His nephew did not survive.
Within hours of the grief center opening Tuesday, victims’ families were already inside El Paso’s convention center in a wing the size of a football field, where services included counseling, travel assistance and financial support.
“We’ve got to make sure that folks have access to mental health care,” said Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who is from El Paso. “The immediate need is that people get help navigating the various agencies and the various systems that are in place.”