Love, hope prevail for victims as El Paso Walmart shooter begins life in prison sentence

Yahoo

23-04-2025

Patrick Crusius was slowly escorted out of a courtroom after hearing painful, emotional and, even hopeful stories of forgiveness for two days from survivors and family members of the victims he violently massacred in 2019.
El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte led the El Paso Walmart mass shooter out of the courtroom about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22. Judge Sam Medrano officially handed the gunman over to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to serve the rest of his life in prison.
"Sheriff, please make arrangements to get him to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice," Medrano said.
Urgate replied, "Yes, your Honor,"
The gunman walked into a secured back room where criminal defendants are held for their court hearings. This is likely the last time El Pasoans will see the uncombed, shaggy-haired mass killer.
Thirty-five victims and family members of those killed took the witness stand over two days to let the gunman know how he impacted their lives. The gunman, at moments, would look at those giving their victim impact statements as they held photos of the ones he killed. But mostly, the gunman stared at the floor.
More: Sister of Walmart mass shooting victim hugs gunman in court, offers him forgiveness
"Look at me, I'm talking to you," yelled Frank Rodriguez, whose 15-year-old son, Javier Amir Rodriguez, was the youngest victim killed. "Look at me. On Aug. 3, 2019, my life was changed forever. My friends, my family, my life was changed forever.
"You came down to El Paso with the intention of tearing us apart. But all you did was make us stronger. You made our community stronger. You made my family stronger."
The gunman took away Javier's dreams, the grieving, angry father said.
"Thanks to you, his goals are gone," he told the gunman. "Everything vanished on Aug. 3, 2019, because of you. A 15-year-old who had a lot ahead of him."
Javier loved soccer. He started playing soccer at the age of 6. He dreamed of playing professional soccer or being a U.S. Border Patrol agent, his family said. He was a regular, fun-loving kid who played video games and had fun with his cousins at his grandma's house with his large extended family.
More: Sentenced to life: Judge tells Walmart mass shooter he 'brought hate - your mission failed'
The Rodriguez family carried a large photo portrait of Javier when they gave their victim impact statements to the Walmart shooter. It's the portrait that hangs in their living room and is displayed for birthdays and family occasions for a son and brother who is dearly missed.
These shared stories of heartbreak punctuated the end of the state's protracted case to bring the gunman to justice in the community he so viciously attacked. There was a sense among many in the courtroom that this emotional and traumatic moment in El Paso history was finally over.
Still, it was too early to truly experience closure.
'Closure? Closure only for this (legal) process, but for everything else it will be something that will never leave until I am also gone,' Francisco Rodriguez told reporters after giving his victim impact statement.
Michelle Grady, who was shot four times in the shooting, told the gunman he caused the "darkest time" in her life. At the age of 33, she had to learn how to walk again because of her injuries.
"I feel a strong sense of responsibility as a survivor to speak for those who are not here any longer," Grady told the gunman. "The response to hate should always be love because we can't control other people, but we can control how we react and how we have compassion for those who are hurt."
Grady lost a joint in her hand that kept her from doing certain things with her right, dominant hand. She has a partially shattered pelvis, pain, scars, a deep wound that is still healing and shrapnel in her skin, she said.
Grady turned the horrific ordeal into an opportunity to realize a blessing.
"I know how incredibly blessed I am to be here. I know how easily it could have gone the other way …" she said. "This event does not define my life. It slowed me down, but by the grace of God, I was not stopped."
The gunman from Allen, Texas, drove nearly 700 miles to El Paso to shoot Hispanics he claimed were invading the U.S., echoing rhetoric from President Donald Trump — a political battle cry he clings to in his second term in office.
The gunman was called a monster, a coward, and even compared to Hitler. Victims questioned how he could have so much hate for Hispanics. The gunman's attorney claimed the gunman, 21 years old at the time of the shooting, was mentally ill and easily radicalized by Trump's political rhetoric.
'There was so much in the news article stating that he (the mass shooter) was mentally ill," Javier's sister Joanna Rodriguez told reporters. "There are so many people that are dealing with so many things. Anxiety, depression, anything that falls in that category of mental illnesses.
"I just want to make it clear that racism isn't a mental illness. He had 10 hours to drive over here, think what he was going to do. He planned it out. He's a white supremacist."
Yolanda Tinajero, whose brother Arturo Benavides, a decorated U.S. Army veteran and retired Sun Metro employee, said if the gunman had stopped to meet the people of El Paso and the Borderland, he would have realized the people he killed were good people.
More: Forgiving a 'monster': El Paso Walmart victims' families, survivors address mass shooter
"If you would've come before to get to know our culture, you would have experienced what warm and good-hearted people as Hispanics we are," Tinajero told the gunman during her victim impact statement.
"We would have opened our doors to you to share a meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, Mexican stuff. Then your ugly thoughts of us that have been instilled in you would have turned around."
The second day of victim impact statements started with angry testimonies, but Tinajero's victim impact statement changed the mood in the courtroom and refocused the hearing on finding healing.
In a powerful moment, Yolanda Tinajero forgave the gunman and was allowed to hug him. Her bravery led to another victim's family member, Adriana Zandri, returning to court on Tuesday to do the same.
Near the end of victim impact statements, Zandri, whose husband Ivan Filiberto Manzano was killed in the shooting, requested to be allowed to hug the gunman. It is unknown if Zandri told the gunman anything. They briefly hugged and she left the court.
"I will never understand what led you to do such a terrible act," Zandri said during her victim impact statement on Monday, April 21. "My family suffered the consequences because of the bad choices you made … My husband was proudly Mexican. My children are proudly Mexican."
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at [e-mail] or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Victims address El Paso Walmart shooter before he spends life in prison