El Paso: Suspect could face hate crime charge, death penalty.
US begins terror inquiry, suggests possibility of hate crime charge
EL PASO, Texas – A gunman’s rampage that left 20 dead and dozens injured was being investigated as a possible hate crime after discovery of a racist manifesto believed to have been posted online by the killer.
Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, was booked into the El Paso County Jail early Sunday on a charge of capital murder. He is accused of walking into a Walmart near a shop- ping mall Saturday morning and opening fire, prompting panic as hundreds of customers and employees fled, police said. Authorities said 20 people were slain and another 26 wounded.
“The state charge is capital murder and so he is eligible for the death penalty,” District Attorney Jaime Esparza said. “We will seek the death penalty.”
U.S. Attorney John Bash said federal authorities were treating the shooting as a domestic terrorism case and were “seriously considering” hate crime charges.
Allen is near Dallas, 650 miles east of El Paso.
“This person did not come from El Paso,” Mayor Dee Margo said. “It is not what we’re about. We are a special community and this would not have happened from an El Pasoan, I can assure you.”
The shopping area is about five miles from the border checkpoint to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The Walmart and mall had drawn thousands of shoppers, and videos posted to social media show many scrambling for cover.
“The El Paso community was struck by a heinous and senseless act of violence,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said. “Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific shooting and to the entire community in this time of loss.”
Police Chief Greg Allen said the active shooter 911 call was received at 10:39 a.m. and the first police officer arrived six minutes later. Officers descended on the suspect, who carried one gun, and arrested him without firing any shots, Allen said.
The suspect was cooperating with investigators, he said.
Crusius graduated high school in 2016 and enrolled in Collin College in the fall of 2017, according to the school. He was enrolled until this spring.
El Paso’s population of more than 680,000 people is more than 80% Hispanic. Allen said authorities were working to confirm whether an antiimmigrant rant found online was posted by the suspect.
The manifesto said the influx of Hispanics will overwhelm the state’s voting bloc of white people and could turn Texas, normally a Republican stronghold, toward the Democratic party. The writer of the manifesto denied he was a white supremacist but suggests “race mixing” is destroying the nation and recommends dividing the nation into racially based enclaves.
The author also claims his views in support of a border wall predate President Donald Trump’s campaign and dismisses any attempt to blame the attack on the president as “fake news.”
In a tweet, Trump called the shooter a coward.
“Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice,” Trump said. “I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.”
Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, said the suspect wasn’t on her group’s radar before the shooting. And she accused Trump of providing cover for racism.
“By describing immigrants in derogatory terms, President Trump is pushing anti-immigrant hate into the mainstream,” she said in a statement. “Trump has broken the bounds of decency, and his rhetoric and tweets are normalizing anti-immigrant sentiments and fueling white supremacist conspiracy theories that engender violence.”
Walmart employee Leslie Diaz, 25, said she was helping customers at the front of the store in the checkout when she heard multiple large “pops” getting closer and louder.
She said she looked at her coworkers, grabbed some customers and led them out as customers began screaming and running toward the exit.
Near her, Tabitha Estrada, 19, was at a GNC vitamin outlet at the front of the Walmart when she heard customers screaming to get away. She took who she could into a room and locked it. Minutes later, she heard police say, “Come out with your hands up!”
An hour after going into hiding, Estrada was reunited with her mother, Rebeca Rivas, 40. They hugged and held each other.
“Mija, you’re alive,” Rivas said. The horrific attack came just hours before another mass shooting Ohio left nine people dead at a crowded entertainment district in Dayton.
In Rome, Pope Francis acknowledged the shootings and one in California last week that killed three in a Sunday message to thousands at St. Peter’s Square.
“I am spiritually close to the victims of the violence that have bloodied Texas, California and Ohio, in the United States, striking defenseless people,” Pope Francis said.