El Paso Walmart shooter who killed 23 in racist attack sentenced to multiple life terms

The white gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack on Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in a Texas border city was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life sentences but could still face more punishment, including the death penalty.

Patrick Crusius, 24, was handed his sentence after relatives of the victims excoriated him for days over his shooting rampage, which targeted Latino shoppers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Crusius could still face the death penalty in a separate case in a Texas state court that has yet to go to trial.

Crusius, who pleaded guilty in February to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama.

The sentencing took place not far from the El Paso Walmart where Crusius opened fire with an AK-style semiautomatic rifle Aug. 3, 2019. The attack came after Crusius ranted online about a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Some of the victims were citizens of Mexico. In addition to the dead, more than two dozen people were injured, and numerous others were severely traumatized as they hid or fled.

Confronting Crusius face to face for the first time, several relatives of the victims looked him in the eye and mocked his motivations, telling him that his racist pursuits had failed.

Amaris Vega, whose aunt was killed and whose mother narrowly survived a softball-sized wound to the chest, railed at Crusius’ “pathetic, sorry manifesto” promising to rid Texas of Hispanics.

“But guess what? You didn’t. You failed,” Vega told him Thursday. “We are still here and we are not going anywhere. And for four years you have been stuck in a city full of Hispanics. … So let that sink in.”

During the initial statements from victims, Crusius occasionally swiveled in his seat or bobbed his head with little sign of emotion. On Thursday, his eyes appeared to well up as victims condemned the brutality of the shootings and demanded that he respond and account for his actions. At one point, Crusius consulted with a defense attorney at his side and gestured that he would not answer.

Crusius’ family has not been in the courtroom during the sentencing phase.

Before the shooting, Crusius appeared consumed by the nation’s immigration debate, tweeting posts praising then-President Trump’s hard-line border policies.