Face of Nation : EL PASO, Texas – A gunman’s rampage that left 20 dead and dozens injured was being investigated as a possible hate crime after discovery of a racist manifesto believed to have been posted online by the killer. Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, was booked into the El Paso County Jail early Sunday on a charge of capital murder. He is accused of walking into a Walmart near a shopping mall Saturday morning and opening fire, prompting panic as hundreds of customers and employees fled the area, police said.
“The state charge is capital murder and so he is eligible for the death penalty,” District Attorney Jaime Esparza said Sunday. “We will seek the death penalty.” U.S. Attorney John Bash said federal authorities were treating the shooting as a domestic terrorism case and were “seriously considering” hate crime charges.
The city of Allen is near Dallas, 650 miles east of El Paso. “This person did not come from El Paso,” Mayor Dee Margo said at the news conference hours after the carnage unfolded at a shopping center crowded with Saturday shoppers. “It is not what we’re about. We are a special community and this would not have happened from an El Pasoan, I can assure you.”
The shopping area is about five miles from the Mexican border checkpoint with Ciudad Juarez. The Walmart and mall had drawn thousands of shoppers, and videos posted to social media show shoppers scrambling for cover.
“The El Paso community was struck by a heinous and senseless act of violence,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific shooting and to the entire community in this time of loss.”
Police Chief Greg Allen said the active shooter 911 call was received at 10:39 a.m. and the first police officer arrived six minutes later. Officers descended on the suspect, who was armed with one gun, and took him into custody without firing any shots, Allen said. The suspect is cooperating with investigators, he said. Crusius graduated high school in 2016 and enrolled in Collin College in the fall of 2017, according to the school. He was enrolled as a student until the spring of 2019.
