In connection with the racist shooting at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, a Texas man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal hate crime and firearms charges. According to prosecutors, the crime was preceded by the gunman posting an online screed warning of a "Hispanic invasion."
In a courthouse in El Paso, Texas, a few miles from the store where he is accused of killing 23 people, including Mexican citizens, 24-year-old Patrick Crusius displayed little emotion while being handcuffed.
The US government already declared it would not pursue the death penalty at the sentencing, which is set for later this year. Crusius waived the majority of his rights to appeal on a total of 90 federal charges, which U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama said would each carry a life sentence, AP news reported.
"I plead guilty," he said.
Before federal prosecutors decided against seeking the death penalty, Crusius had first entered a plea of not guilty. The timing of the trial, in that case, is still unknown, but he could still be sentenced to death in Texas under separate state capital murder charges.
According to court documents, Crusius turned himself in to police after the shooting, claiming to be the shooter and that he had targeted Mexicans.
He allegedly traveled more than ten hours by car from his hometown near Dallas to the predominantly Hispanic border city and posted a document online shortly before the shooting that claimed it was in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas," prosecutors said.
The shooting on Aug. 3, 2019, took place over a busy weekend at a Walmart that is frequently visited by customers from both the United States and Mexico. In addition to those who died, almost two dozen others suffered injuries, and hundreds more were left with scars from being present or witnessing a loved one suffer harm.
During the plea hearing on Wednesday, the prosecution gave a thorough account of the incident, detailing how Crusius first shot and killed a pedestrian in the parking lot before opening fire on attendees of a soccer club fundraiser while using noise-canceling earmuffs.
Former El Paso Mayor Dee Margo attended the plea hearing and called it a "gut-wrencher."
"We have an evil white supremacist who showed up and attacked us for who we are," he said.
After the hearing, defense attorney Joe Spencer said Crusius wanted to accept responsibility. "There are no winners in this case," he said.
According to Prosecutors, Crusius consented after surrendering to two videotaped interviews with detectives and the FBI on Aug. 3 and providing two thumb drives that contained his racist writings and other records.
The anti-immigration rhetoric of American politics and the racist screed published by other mass shooters in the United States and elsewhere were both repeated in Crusius' writings before the attack.
The notion of an "invasion" on the U.S.-Mexico border has persisted in American politics for more than three years following the shooting. In the wake of El Paso and other racially motivated attacks, critics have denounced the characterization as anti-immigrant and deadly.
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