Texas man pleads guilty in El Paso mass shooting

EL PASO, Texas — A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal hate crime and weapons charges in the racially motivated attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, which prosecutors say was preceded by the gunman posting an online screed that warned of a “Hispanic invasion.”

Patrick Crusius, 24, showed little emotion while shackled in an El Paso courtroom just a few miles from the store where he was accused of killing 23 people, including citizens of Mexico, in what remains one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.

Sentencing is not scheduled until later this year, but the U.S. government had previously announced it wouldn’t seek the death penalty. Crusius waived most of his rights to appeal on a total of 90 federal charges, which U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama said would each carry a life sentence.

“I plead guilty,” he said. Crusius had originally pleaded innocent before federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. He could still receive the death penalty, however, under separate state capital murder charges in Texas, although it remains unclear when that case might go to trial.

Albert Hernandez, whose sister and brother-in-law were killed in the attack, was one of about 40 people with close ties to the victims in the court gallery. He called Crusius a coward who was trying to “save his own skin” by pleading guilty in federal court.

“This guy knew what he was doing. It was premeditated,” Hernandez said of the shooting. “He came here to take care of business.”

Crusius surrendered to police after the massacre, saying, “I’m the shooter,” and that he was targeting Mexicans, according to court records. Prosecutors have said he drove more than 10 hours from his hometown near Dallas to the largely Latino border city and published a document online shortly before the shooting that said it was “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

The Aug. 3, 2019, shooting happened on a busy weekend at a Walmart that is typically popular with shoppers from Mexico and the U.S. In addition to those killed, more than two dozen were injured and hundreds more were emotionally scarred by being present or having a loved one hurt.

Prosecutors presented a detailed narrative of the attack during Wednesday’s plea hearing, describing how it began with a pedestrian gunned down in the parking lot before Crusius, wearing earmuffs that mute the sound of gunfire, opened fire at people at a fundraiser for a soccer team.

As Crusius moved inside the store, prosecutors said, nine people were cornered and shot to death at a bank near the entrance. Among them were husband and wife Jordan and Andre Anchondo, whose infant son survived with broken bones in a hand.

It’s also where gunfire cut down Margie Reckard, whose August 2019 funeral drew thousands of sympathizers from as far away as California and across the border in Mexico — after her husband announced that he was alone with almost no family left and invited the world to attend.

The killing continued as Crusius fired his assault rifle down multiple aisles, according to prosecutors. Exiting Walmart, he fired on a passing car, killing an elderly man and wounding his wife.

After the hearing, defense attorney Joe Spencer said Crusius wanted to accept responsibility. “There are no winners in this case,” he said.

Prosecutors say that after surrendering, Crusius consented to two videotaped interviews with detectives and the FBI on Aug. 3 and provided two thumb drives containing his racist writings and other records.