Latest news with #PatrickCrusius
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
New information about Walmart mass shooting emerges in recently released evidence
EL PASO, Texas (El Paso Matters) – A shopper emerges from an aisle in Walmart and looks for someone to help her. The only person around is a 6-foot-tall young man in a black T-shirt, tan cargo pants, black tennis shoes and the beginnings of a goatee, looking at his cellphone while leaning on a display of mini fridges. As captured on store cameras, she approaches him, says something, and he shrugs as if he doesn't understand. She appears to laugh, clasps her hands together, then thrusts them upward three times, signaling she needed help getting something out of her reach. They walk together down the aisle where she had been, and a set of hands is seen on store video reaching to the top shelf. The man walks back to the display area where he had been standing, once again looking at the phone as he settles near another display. The woman heads off in a different direction. Every day in El Paso, people feel safe in approaching a stranger for a small favor that is quickly granted, momentarily brightening the lives of both. This was no act of kindness. It was 9:13 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, at the Walmart next to Cielo Vista Mall. The man in the black T-shirt was 21-year-old Patrick Crusius. On his phone was a manifesto he had recently written vowing to stop the 'Hispanic invasion of Texas,' which he would soon post to an internet site frequented by white supremacists. (The woman who approached him spoke to Crusius only in Spanish, his attorney, Joe Spencer, told El Paso Matters.) At 10:38 a.m., just over 80 minutes after retrieving something for the shopper in need, Crusius reentered the Cielo Vista Walmart with a Romanian-made AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle he purchased from the internet weeks earlier. By the time he left the Walmart a final time, 23 people lay dead or dying, another 22 had wounds they would carry for life, and El Paso was changed forever. The basic elements of El Paso's darkest day are well-established. Crusius has pleaded guilty in both federal and state courts to the deadliest hate-driven attack against Hispanics in U.S. history. He will die in prison. But because Crusius never faced trial, El Paso knows little about what investigators learned as they tried to piece together the gunman's motives, and what transpired that day. State and federal laws generally allow law enforcement and prosecutors to keep secret such evidence before criminal cases conclude. With the criminal cases now ended, some of what investigators learned is being made public. The Texas Department of Public Safety – which assisted in the investigation – recently released a trove of video and photographs from the Walmart mass shooting investigation to Interrogation Files, an Arkansas-based YouTube channel that specializes in videos of law enforcement questioning of people accused of crimes. Interrogation Files requested the records from DPS under the Texas Public Information Act. Interrogation Files published a video released by DPS that includes two El Paso police detectives questioning Crusius less than three hours after the shooting. The video released by DPS shows almost two hours of questioning by the detectives. An interrogation by FBI agents later that day was not included in the videos released by DPS. DPS also provided Interrogation Files with extensive videos from cameras inside and outside the Walmart, as well as crime scene photos by law enforcement. Interrogation Files agreed to share the materials received from DPS with El Paso Matters. El Paso Matters reviewed the video and images released by DPS and will not publish or describe graphic material. But we are sharing some of what is contained in the evidence to deepen public understanding of the attack. The information released by DPS includes two separate videos of El Paso police detectives Fred Hernandez and Adrian Garcia interrogating Crusius on the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2019, hours after the shooting. The first video is about 58 minutes long and the second is 57 minutes. On the video, Crusius waived his rights to remain silent and have an attorney present for questioning. DPS also released a 36-minute video produced by the FBI that stitches together recordings from Walmart cameras from the moment that Crusius' 2012 Honda Civic is first seen approaching the store parking lot until he drives away after the shooting one hour and 46 minutes later. The store cameras captured Crusius mercilessly gunning down people as he approached the Walmart, as he entered the store, as he moved through, and as he exited. Before the shooting, Crusius went inside the Walmart and walked around for about 30 minutes, bought a bag of oranges and ate at least one, and sat in his car for almost an hour. Five minutes before the attack, he drove his car through a sidewalk to reach a parking space on the southwest side of the building. Crusius left two minutes later to seek another parking spot, where he began his assault. During the interrogation, Crusius gave a different explanation of his motive than he provided in the manifesto he posted online shortly before the shooting. In the manifesto, he highlighted a series of racist beliefs and said his attack was meant to stop 'the Hispanic invasion of Texas.' The information released by DPS includes two separate videos of El Paso police detectives Fred Hernandez and Adrian Garcia interrogating Crusius on the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2019, hours after the shooting. The first video is about 58 minutes long and the second is 57 minutes. On the video, Crusius waived his rights to remain silent and have an attorney present for questioning. DPS also released a 36-minute video produced by the FBI that stitches together recordings from Walmart cameras from the moment that Crusius' 2012 Honda Civic is first seen approaching the store parking lot until he drives away after the shooting one hour and 46 minutes later. The store cameras captured Crusius mercilessly gunning down people as he approached the Walmart, as he entered the store, as he moved through, and as he exited. Before the shooting, Crusius went inside the Walmart and walked around for about 30 minutes, bought a bag of oranges and ate at least one, and sat in his car for almost an hour. Five minutes before the attack, he drove his car through a sidewalk to reach a parking space on the southwest side of the building. Crusius left two minutes later to seek another parking spot, where he began his assault. During the interrogation, Crusius gave a different explanation of his motive than he provided in the manifesto he posted online shortly before the shooting. In the manifesto, he highlighted a series of racist beliefs and said his attack was meant to stop 'the Hispanic invasion of Texas.' But under questioning by the two El Paso police detectives, he gave another reason for the attack on a store crowded on a Saturday morning with predominantly Hispanic and Mexican shoppers: 'I guess I was bullied in high school by Mexicans.' Crusius repeatedly told the officers that the reasons for his attack could be found in his manifesto, which was a 2,300-word screed that praised a previous white supremacist killer and said immigration was a threat to white people. But during the interrogation, he also returned to the bullying theme, which was not mentioned in the manifesto. 'That's the real reason. I rationalize in different ways. That sounds pathetic to say that's really why I killed a bunch of people. But, yeah, that's it.' Crusius was calm throughout the interrogation, but his left leg shook visibly and his statements were often muddled. He confused El Paso and San Antonio at one point. He said he posted the manifesto, which is replete with racist tropes, because 'I just didn't want people thinking I was a white supremacist. That's why I posted it, really.' As Crusius' criminal cases wound through the courts, his attorneys said he had a lengthy history of mental illness. He told his interrogators that he had long held violent thoughts and said he stopped seeing a therapist because he didn't think it was working. He also said he was on the autism spectrum. In the interrogation, Crusius said he couldn't sleep the night of Aug. 2, 2019, so he left his grandparents' house in the Dallas suburb of Allen, where he was living, and headed for El Paso. 'I mean, I just had violent thoughts, and I've been battling them for a long time. Yesterday, I mean, I didn't think I'd actually do it, but you know, yesterday I started having really violent thoughts and the next day I just drove and did it.' He brought the AK-47 rifle he had recently purchased, and ammunition he said he had begun accumulating before he bought the gun. He said he chose to make the 10-hour drive to El Paso because it was far away from the Dallas area, where his parents and grandparents lived. Of El Paso, Crusius said, 'I had no idea where it was.' He used a map on his phone to make his way from North Texas. When he got to El Paso, he got lost in a neighborhood, Crusius told the detectives. He was hungry, so he looked for a Walmart. The Cielo Vista Walmart was the first one listed on his phone search. During the interrogation, Crusius said he acted alone in the attack. 'I don't have any friends,' he told Hernandez and Garcia. Store security cameras show Crusius' Honda Civic arriving at about 8:56 a.m. Aug. 3, 2019, and he parked a minute later. (The time stamp of 9:56 a.m. on the Walmart security cameras was an hour later than the actual time in El Paso, the FBI said in the intro to the video it created from store camera footage.) Crusius had been driving for about 10 hours. He walked into the Walmart at 8:59 a.m. through the grocery entrance. No uniformed security officers are evident in the video. Crusius walked through the store without engaging with store staff or customers. At 9:02 a.m., he went into a restroom at the front of the store and was off camera for 8 minutes and 13 seconds. When he emerged, he drank from a water fountain for six seconds, then resumed walking through the store. Crusius seemed to avoid contact with others. While walking in an aisle and looking at his phone, he reversed direction when he looked up and saw two men coming toward him. He proceeded down the next aisle to his right. Shortly after he reappeared in the camera's view, a woman pushing a shopping cart can be seen coming behind him, then turning up another aisle. This was the woman shopper who approached Crusius to seek his assistance reaching something on a top shelf. It was his only interaction with another human being captured on video while he was inside the store. Crusius walked out of the store at 9:20 a.m. without purchasing anything. He went to his car, opened the door, then closed it without getting in. He walked back to the Walmart, reentering at 9:23 a.m. He headed to the produce section and picked up a bag of oranges. Crusius used a card to pay at a self-checkout machine, pacing for 15 seconds as the payment was processed. He then exited the store a second time at 9:26 a.m. Crusius went on and off camera over the next few minutes, but was captured on video eating an orange in the entryway. He left the Walmart again at 9:30 a.m., carrying the bag of oranges in his left hand. Crusius walked to his car, got in, and sat there for 56 minutes and 10 seconds. Investigators determined that he posted his manifesto from his phone to the internet during this period, at 10:20 a.m. At 10:28 a.m., a group appeared to unload groceries in the car parked next to Crusius. He drove forward, turned south and then west, and parked for another three minutes in the same aisle. Crusius then drove forward and turned north toward the store. He then turned west on the road in front of the Walmart before turning north again at the end of the store, driving across a sidewalk near several people and into a parking spot next to a minivan on the west side of the store. No one, including store security, appeared to have approached Crusius after his reckless move, though the vehicle was largely out of camera view for 35 seconds. It was perhaps the last chance to stop a mass killer before his attack. Officials with Walmart, which is facing multiple civil suits stemming from the attack, did not respond to questions from El Paso Matters about security at the Cielo Vista store the day of the attack. Crusius can be seen on store video briefly walking between the driver's side of his car and the driver's side of a minivan parked next to him, and put something over his shoulders. Subsequent video would show it was a pouch containing ammunition magazines. At 10:35 a.m., he pulled forward and turned in front of the Walmart once again. He weaved through the parking lot before pulling into a spot that faced the midpoint of the store just before 10:37 a.m. He exited the car, popped the trunk, and put on shooting earmuffs before pulling out his rifle. 'I can't shoot that thing without ear protection, period. It disorientates me. It makes me feel sick,' he told police a few hours later. At 10:38 a.m., Crusius slammed his trunk shut, put the AK-47 to his shoulder, began walking toward the Walmart, and fatally shot his first victim – a 58-year-old woman who had just turned her shopping cart toward him in the parking lot – 14 seconds after raising his weapon. He headed toward the grocery entrance where minutes earlier he had eaten an orange as shoppers went in and out. Crusius continued firing inside the store for almost three minutes before exiting a final time and heading back to his car. Hours later, he would tell police he didn't expect the attack would last as long as it did. 'I thought there would be somebody shooting back.' He pulled out of the parking space at 10:42 a.m. He later told police he tried to call 911 to surrender after he drove away, but couldn't get through. He was driving back to the Walmart about 20 minutes after leaving when he saw law enforcement vehicles about a block from the store and surrendered to two Texas Rangers and an El Paso police officer. When detectives asked him during the interrogation what he planned to do as he drove away after the shooting, Crusius said: 'I mean, I just had to get away. I don't … It was so nasty.' But even as he walked away from the carnage he left in the Walmart, Crusius fired on a car passing in front of the store, killing a 77-year-old man and wounding his wife. They were his final victims. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Love, hope prevail for victims as El Paso Walmart shooter begins life in prison sentence
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 amartinez1@ 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
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Woman's incredible courtroom act towards racist Walmart mass shooter who killed her brother and 23 others
In a shocking moment in court, a family member hugged the Texas gunman who killed her brother in the El Paso Walmart shooting that killed over 20 people. As Patrick Crusius, 26, pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated assault charges for the 2019 massacre, he was faced with anger and grief from family members of the victims. But two women, in an unexpected moment, hugged the shooter, who admitted to specifically targeting Hispanic people in the attack that killed 23 and injured 22. Yolanda Tinajero, who lost her brother Arturo Benavides, was the first of the two to ask Judge Sam Medrano for permission to hug the killer. 'Ma'am, would it truly bring you peace and comfort and healing to hug him?' Medrano asked her. 'Yes,' Tinajero answered. After being granted permission, the victim's sister wrapped her arms around the gunman as she sobbed, KTSM reported. Adriana Zandri, who lost her husband Ivan Eliberto Manzano, was the second to hug Crusius as he kept his gaze to the floor. Crusius was 21 when he committed the despicable act and drove more than ten hours from his home in suburban Dallas to El Paso. He wore earmuffs as he opened fire with an AK-style rifle on the Walmart parking lot before moving inside the store on August 3 As Zandri embraced her husband's killer, cries were heard throughout the courtroom and the handcuffed killer sat awkwardly in orange and white striped prison garb. 'My children have lost their hero, their prince, their column, their support and their father,' she said on Monday. 'He's not going to be there to teach my daughter how to play basketball. He is not going to be present to give my daughter's hand in her wedding ceremony. 'The only thing that I wanted was for them to not grow up with hatred in their hearts because the day they begin feeling hatred toward you is when their life will be over.' Crusius was 21 when he committed the despicable act and drove more than ten hours from his home in suburban Dallas to El Paso. He wore earmuffs as he opened fire with an AK-style rifle on the Walmart parking lot before moving inside the store on August 3. Crusius cornered shoppers at a bank near the entrance before shooting at the checkout area and people in aisles. When he exited the store, he fired at a passing car and killed an elderly man while wounding his wife. He was apprehended shortly after and confessed to officers who stopped him at an intersection, according to police. The gunman posted on an online message board prior to the deadly shooting that he was inspired to commit the act 'in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.' He claimed Hispanics were going to take over the government and economy. Crusius was apparently consumed by the nation's immigration debate, tweeting #BuildtheWall and posts praising border policies of President Donald Trump, who was in his first term at the time. After the shooting, Crusius admitted to officers he had targeted Mexican people. The individuals who were killed ranged in age from teenagers to grandparents. They included immigrants and Mexican nationals who had crossed the U.S. border on routine shopping trips. The victims who were killed were identified as: Andre and Jordan Anchondo, Arturo Benavides, Leonardo Campos, Angie Englisbee, Maria and Raul Flores, Guillermo Garcia, Jorge Calvillo García, Adolfo Cerros Hernández, Alexander Gerhard Hoffman, and David Johnson. Luis Alfonzo Juarez, Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe, Maribel Loya, Ivan Filiberto Manzano, Ivan Filiberto Manzano, Gloria Irma Márquez, Margie Reckard, Sara Esther Regalado Moriel, Javier Rodriguez, Teresa Sanchez, and Juan Velazquez also lost their lives. His defense lawyer, Joe Spencer, claimed that Crusius has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which can be marked by hallucinations, delusions and mood swings. 'This explanation of a severe mental illness and toxic political environment does not, in any way, justify or excuse the horrific violence that Patrick committed,' Spencer clarified. 'He bears responsibility for the choices he made and the devastation that he caused.' But the mental health defense claims were rebutted by the family members of victims. Dean Reckard, son of Margie Reckard, said to the gunman on Monday: 'I noticed your family isn't here. They'll probably have to hide for the rest of their lives because of the evil you brought upon their name. I'm not buying into this mental illness issue that your lawyers want us to believe. 'To me, you're just a copycat killer who wanted some attention. My hope is you wake up each morning wishing you were dead.' Misty Jamrowski, mother of Jordan Anchodo, said: 'You remind me of a man who had mental illness as well, and was racist as well. His name was Adolf Hitler. His objective was Jewish people. Your objective was Mexican people.' Other family members stood up to face the killer. Raul Melendez, family member of David Johnson, said: 'What he did was cowardly. You know, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd see a clown in handcuffs.' Francisco Rodriguez, father to the youngest victim in the shooting, Javier Rodriguez, said: 'My son was 15 years old at the time. He was pretty much a bystander. He just went down there with his uncle to the bank. Look at me. Look at my son. 'You had the balls to come down here and do what you wanted to do right? Look at him. I'm only asking you two minutes. Two minutes of your time. You had over 10 hours to think about what you were going to do. Now you can't give me two minutes? Thanks to you, now I go to the cemetery with my family on my son's birthday.' Before Crusius pleaded guilty to capital murder and 22 counts of aggravated assault on Monday, he had already been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in federal court after pleading guilty to hate crime and weapons charges in 2023. Last month, El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya offered him a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. 'This is about allowing the families of the 23 victims who lost their lives on that horrific day - and the 22 wounded - to finally have resolution in our court system,' Montoya said last month.
Barnama
22-04-2025
- Barnama
Shooter Who Killed Over 20 People In Texas Pleads Guilty To Capital Murder
MOSCOW, April 22 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- American Patrick Crusius, accused of shooting at a Walmart supermarket in Texas in 2019 that killed 23 people, pleaded guilty to capital murder after the prosecution declined to seek the death penalty, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported. Crusius was already sentenced to 90 life terms in July 2023 after pleading guilty to hate crimes and weapons charges. The decision to drop the death penalty option for Crusius was made by the majority of the victims' relatives, who want the case to be closed, NBC News reported on Monday, citing El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya.
United News of India
22-04-2025
- United News of India
Shooter killing 23 at US Texas Walmart will not face death penalty
Houston, Apr 22 (UNI) Patrick Crusius, the shooter who killed 23 people in a 2019 attack targeting Hispanic migrants at a Walmart in El Paso, U.S. state of Texas, will not face the death penalty after he pleaded guilty in a state court on Monday. Instead, he was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences. El Paso District Attorney James Montoya's office last month offered Crusius the plea deal to avoid the death penalty. At the time, Montoya said he personally believed Crusius should be executed but the death penalty would delay a trial even further, noting that most of the victim's families just want the case's closure. Crusius was sentenced to 90 life terms in 2023 in his federal trial after pleading guilty. The 2019 attack is one of the deadliest shootings in the United States. UNI XINHUA GNK
