The Texas gunman who killed 23 people in a 2019 attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at an El Paso Walmart is set to plead guilty to murder charges.
The Texas gunman who killed 23 people in a 2019 attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at an El Paso Walmart is set to plead guilty to murder charges, finally allowing the case to come to a close.
Patrick Crusius, 26, is expected to plead guilty on Monday to capital murder and receive a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for the racist mass shooting near the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 3, 2019. El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya, a Democrat, said last month he was offering Crusius a plea deal to avoid the death penalty on the state charge.
Crusius was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in federal court after pleading guilty to hate crime and weapons charges in 2023. Federal prosecutors under the Biden administration also took the death penalty off the table.
The gunman is expected to serve his time in a Texas state prison. Crusius was initially arrested by local authorities and will be transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice if he is sentenced on state charges, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Crusius was 21 years old when authorities say he drove more than 10 hours from his home in suburban Dallas to El Paso and opened fire at the Walmart.
Prosecutors have said Crusius was wearing earmuffs to mute the sound of gunfire when he began firing his AK-style rifle in the store’s parking lot.
