EL PASO (AP) – The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at a Texas Walmart – one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States (US) history – is expected to accept a plea deal in a state court to avoid the death penalty.
Patrick Crusius has acknowledged he targeted Hispanics on August 3, 2019, when he opened fire in the store crowded with shoppers from the US and Mexico in the border city of El Paso.
Under the offer, Crusius would plead guilty to capital murder and receive life in prison with no possibility of parole, El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya said.
Texas prosecutors declined to pursue the death penalty. Montoya said the decision was driven by a majority of victims’ relatives who want the case to be over.
Crusius already has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms at the federal level after pleading guilty to hate crimes and weapons charges. If the plea arrangement proceeds, families will be able to give victim impact statements. Dozens of people made emotional statements during a similar hearing in federal court in 2023 that lasted three days.
Crusius, a community-college dropout, was 21 years old when police say he drove more than 1,100 kilometres to El Paso from his home near Dallas. Not long after posting a racist rant online warning of a Hispanic “invasion,” he opened fire with an AK-style rifle inside and outside the store. Police arrested Crusius shortly after.
Defence attorney in the state and federal cases Joe Spencer said Crusius was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder that can be marked by hallucinations, delusions and mood swings and has suffered from debilitating mental illness for most of his life.
“You are talking about an individual with a broken brain,” he said.
The people killed at Walmart ranged in age from a 15-year-old high school athlete to elderly grandparents. They included immigrants, a retired city bus driver, a teacher, tradesmen including a former iron worker and several Mexican nationals who crossed the US border on routine shopping trips.
