El Paso suspect indicted on capital murder charge
Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty
The suspect in the mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart that left 22 dead was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday on a charge of capital murder, according to the district attorney’s office. Prosecutors said they would be seeking the death penalty.
When he was arrested minutes after the massacre, the suspect, Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, declared, “I’m the shooter,” the authorities have said. The suspect, who is white, also told the police that he had targeted Mexicans, according to the authorities.
The massacre, on Aug. 3, was one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States history. Capital murder is the most severe charge in the state of Texas and can be punished by death or life in prison without parole.
When asked about possible hate crime charges, Claudia Duran, project administrator for the El Paso County district attorney’s office said, “at this time we have only indicted on capital murder charges.”
Nineteen minutes before the first 911 call alerted the authorities to a mass shooting, a hate-filled, anti-immigrant manifesto appeared online.
The authorities have said that it was written by the suspect; it said he was carrying out the attack in “response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” The deadliest attack to target Latinos in modern American history, the shooting in El Paso, a city that is 80% Hispanic, has deeply disturbed Latinos across the United States.
The suspect told investigators soon after his arrest that after driving more than 10 hours from Allen to El Paso, he had become lost, and then drove to Walmart because he was hungry, according to court documents. He also told investigators that he had used an AK-47style rifle and brought multiple magazines with him from Allen to carry out the killings.
His mother had called the Allen Police Department in the weeks before the shooting, asking whether her son was mature enough to handle the rifle he had recently ordered. The police told her that, according to the law, her son was allowed to have the weapon, a lawyer for his family has said.
A lawyer for Mr. Crusius could not be reached immediately for comment on Thursday. His court-appointed lawyer, Mark Stevens, has previously said that he would use “every legal tool available” to prevent his client from being executed. Mr. Crusius is being held without bond, the authorities said.