By Abimbola Ogunnaike
A racist gunman, Patrick Crusius, 24, who murdered 23 people in a mass shooting at a Walmart in Texas in February 2019, has been given 90 consecutive life sentences.
Crusius pleaded guilty to the attack, after federal prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty.
Instead, he was handed a life sentence for each of the 90 charges against him on Friday, 7 July, 2023. But even at that Crusius could still be handed death penalty for his crime, as he is yet to face capital murder charges in state court
Half of the 90 charges against Crusius were classed as hate crimes – 23 counts for hate crimes which resulted in death and 22 which caused bodily injury.
He was also convicted for 22 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence resulting in death and 22 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence.
Police said Crusius drove more than 700 miles from his home near Dallas to specifically target Hispanic people in the border city of El Paso, police said.
The shooter then unleashed an AK-style rifle on shoppers inside and outside the Cielo Vista Walmart store, killing 23 people.
His victims included a 15-year-old, immigrants, a retired city bus driver, teachers, tradesmen and several Mexican nationals who had crossed the US border border on routine shopping trips
The mass shooting, one of the deadliest in US history, also injured more than 24 and traumatized numerous others who had to flee or hide.
Before the attack, Crusius posted a tirade of racist content online, warning of a Hispanic ‘invasion’ of Texas.
At the time, the US was in the throes of an intense immigration debate and Crusius had frequently expressed his support for then-president Donald Trump’s hard-line border policies, including tweets to #BuildtheWall.
Ian Hanna, an assistant US attorney who prosecuted the government’s case, said Crusius had embraced the ‘insidious lie’ that America only belonged to white people.
‘He wanted to eliminate a class of people,’ he added.
Defence lawyer, Joe Spencer, said Crusius had a ‘broken brain’ who was ‘at odds with reality — resulting in delusional thinking’.
He claimed his client had set off for El Paso without a specific target in mind, but ended up stopping at the Walmart.
Spencer also told how Crusius had been alarmed at his own violent thoughts in the past and had searched for mental health help online.
US district judge David Guaderrama recommended that Crusius serve his sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado and receive treatment and counselling for a severe mental health condition.
Before the sentencing, the El Paso court heard two days of impact statements from relatives of the victims.
This was the first opportunity for the bereaved to directly address Crusius since the shooting four years ago on August 3.
One man displayed photographs of his slain father and insisted that the gunman look at them, some even forgave Crusius.
Two teenage girls recounted their narrow escape from Crusius’ rampage as they participated in a fundraiser for their youth soccer team outside the store, and said they are still fearful in public.
Margaret Juarez, whose 90-year-old father was slain and whose mother was wounded but survived said: ‘Swim in the waters of prison.
‘Now we’re going to enjoy the sunshine. — We still have our freedom, in our country.’
