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Officers say he confessed after shooting in El Paso
El Paso, Texas — The man accused of carrying out last weekend’s deadly mass shooting at a Walmart in the Texas border city of El Paso confessed to officers while he was surrendering and later explained that he had been targeting Mexicans, authorities say.
Patrick Crusius, 21, emerged with his hands up from a vehicle stopped at an intersection shortly after last Saturday’s attack and told officers, “I’m the shooter,” Detective Adrian Garcia said in an arrest warrant affidavit.
Crusius later waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with detectives, telling them he entered the store with an AK-47 assault rifle and multiple magazines, and that he was targeting Mexicans.
Twenty-two people were killed and about two dozen were injured. Most of the dead had Hispanic last names and eight were Mexican nationals.
Authorities believe that before the attack, Crusius posted a racist screed online that railed against an influx of Hispanics into the U.S. It parrots some of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, but the writer said his views predate Trump’s rise and attempts to blame Trump for his actions are “fake news.” Still, many El Paso residents, protesters and Democrats have blasted Trump, blaming him for inflaming political and racial tensions in the country. Trump has denied stoking division and violence.
Authorities say Crusius drove more than 10 hours from his hometown near Dallas to carry out the shooting in the largely Latino border city of El Paso. An attorney for the Crusius family, Chris Ayres, told The Associated Press that the rest of the family never heard Patrick Crusius use the kind of racist and anti-immigrant language that was posted in the online screed.
Crusius has been charged with capital murder and is being held without bond. Federal prosecutors say they are considering hate-crime charges.
The attack came hours before another mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, in which nine people were killed.
Trump said Friday that he believes he has influence to rally Republicans around stronger federal background check laws. At the same time, he said he assured the National Rifle Association that its gun rights views would be “fully represented and respected.”