Seeking death penalty in Tex.
The hate-filled “domestic terrorist” who gunned down 20 people in El Paso on Saturday was charged with capital murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against him, officials said Sunday.
“The state charge is capital murder, and so he is eligible for the death penalty,” El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said of suspect Patrick Crusius. “We will seek the death penalty. The loss of life is so great, we certainly have never seen this in our community.”
Federal prosecutors are also weighing hate-crime and domestic terrorism charges that carry the federal death penalty.
“We are treating it as a domestic terrorism case, and we’re going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is deliver swift and certain justice,” said US Attorney for the Western District off Texas John Bash.
“I’ve been in close consultation with US Attorney General [William] Barr. We are conducting a methodical investigation with our partners, a careful investigation but with a view toward bringing federal hate crimes charges and federal firearms charges that carry a penalty of death. We are seriously considering those charges.”
Crusius, 21, is accused of opening fire at a crowded El Paso shopping center popular with Mexican tourists on Saturday, killing 20 people and injuring 26 more.
A seething, anti-immigrant manifesto believed to have been posted online by Crusius hours before the rampage blames the attack on “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and claims, “They are the instigators, not me.”
Authorities are increasingly certain that Crusius penned the white supremacist rant and that his xenophobia fueled his rage, noting that the alleged shooter “didn’t hold anything back” while answering investigators’ questions following his arrest.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Sunday that six Mexican nationals were among the dead. Seven other Mexicanborn victims were injured.
“We lament these acts and we affirm our conviction that social problems should not be resolved with use of force and incitement of hatred,” he said.
Crusius bought his AK-47style rifle legally, according to officials, who could not say when, where or from whom he purchased the assault weapon.
The FBI executed search warrants Sunday on three Dallas-area properties associated with Crusius, who lives in the nearby suburb of Allen, according to Special Agent in Charge Emerson Bowie.
Crusius was being held in the El Paso County Jail without bail, according to court records.
Sheriff Richard Wiles, who oversees the jail, slammed Crusius as a racist on Facebook.
“This Anglo man came here to kill Hispanics,” Wiles wrote. “I’m outraged and you should be too. This entire nation should be outraged. In this day and age, with all the serious issues we face, we are still confronted with people who will kill another for the sole reason of the color of their skin.”