EL PASO, Texas – PPatrick Crusius, the confessed mass shooter who pleaded guilty to killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart nearly four years ago, was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life terms in federal prison.
Crusius showed no emotion as the long-expected sentence was read by U.S. Federal District Judge David C. Guaderrama shortly before noon on Friday. Guaderrama sentenced Crusius to a supermax facility in Florence, Colorado, and asked that mental help services be provided
The decision effectively put Crusius behind bars for the rest of his life. Crusius still faces state capital murder charges that could result in a death sentence. No date has been set for the state trial.
In February, Crusius promptly pleaded guilty to 90 federal murder, weapons and hate crimes charges after the Justice Department decided not to seek the death penalty.
The sentencing hearings provided victims’ relatives and the shooter from Allen an opportunity to address the courtroom. It ended with Crusius’ attorney Joe Spencer reading from a prepared statement, claiming Crusius suffered from “mental illness” and offering condolences to El Paso, Mexico and Germany for the loss of life.
“We cannot change what happened,” said Spencer, who blamed the shooting on “mental” illness. “But we can move forward.”
Spencer told the court Crusius had lost touch with reality when he drove about 10 hours from Dallas to El Paso with his “broken brain, cemented in delusion.”
He listed a number of incidents he said raised questions about Crusius’ mental capacity, including scrolling through the internet to research hate crimes, and having “violent thoughts” about his “therapist and family members,” who became alarmed that he had bought a high-powered weapon with the family credit card.
“No one in his family thought it was a good idea to have a gun,” Spencer said, adding that Crusius’ mother called Allen police, who told her Crusius hadn’t committed a crime and was of legal age.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian M. Hanna said the attack was long-planned and was based on a lie that “being American is based on what you look like and and where your ancestors” come from.
“Consider what happened: A cold, calculated scheme targeting people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. It’s not a crime of passion. It’s not an accident. He laid it out in a document of his own creation. He didn’t go into Walmart looking for someone he knew. He was trying to eliminate a class of people, people who make this community what it is,” he said.
With the federal case against Crusius over, attention turns to the state charges. Bill Hicks, district attorney for the 34th Judicial District that includes El Paso County, said that case will move forward.
“I want to emphasize that nothing that happens in the federal courthouse will affect what happens in the state courthouse,” Hicks said. “We are still going to be seeking the death penalty.”
It “will be an El Paso jury to make that decision whether he gets the death penalty or life in prison,” he added.
The sentencing capped three days of testimony filled with raw emotions from relatives of the victims of the Aug. 3, 2019, shooting that was the deadliest attack against Latino people in United States history.
Crusius, who was armed with a high-powered assault-style rifle, said he carried out the attack to “stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas.
Reaction from some of the relatives outside the courtroom was swift.
Francisco Javier Rodriguez, a truck driver who had done two tours in the Iraq war, said he wasn’t surprised Crusius didn’t speak. “Like I said before, he’s nothing but a coward. I really don’t care what he has to say. He’s not bringing my son back.”
Rodriguez is the father of Javier Amir Rodriguez, who was 15 and the youngest victim of the mass shooting.
“On one part I’m happy with the sentence, but in the end I will never regain what I lost,” said Nicolasa Estela Velasquez, whose husband, Juan de Dios Velasquez, was also killed by Crusius. The couple had just parked when the shooting began, and Velasquez said a bullet is still lodged on the right side of her the stomach. She now lives in Colorado with family.
Dean Reckard, who had traveled from Omaha, Nebraska, said he was “disappointed” Crusius didn’t address the court. But he wasn’t surprised the gunman didn’t speak, calling the mass murderer a “coward and a liar.”
Reckhard’s mother, Margie, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was shot by Crusius in the head. A day earlier, on Thursday, Reckhard appeared to get under Crusius’ skin, when he called him “young and stupid.”
“You made a bad choice,” Reckhard said to Crusius. “You’re beyond pathetic. You’re pathetic. Are you sorry for what you did?”
Crusious nodded his head.
Mario Perez, who had traveled from Houston to El Paso to visit family in 2019, was shot twice in the back. He said the attack was “clearly” premediated.
“He planned it,” Perez said in Spanish. “He shot me twice. And, he continued the attack.”
Throughout most of the hearing, Crusius sat stoically, though some relatives of victims at times made him squirm. At one point, Crusius looked teary-eyed. Many of them told him he had not seen the last of them.
Karla Romero’s mom died in the shooting. She at one point said she wished he was unshackled, telling him, “I’m not afraid of you. I believe I can take you.”
“I believe my mother would not hold a grudge, but she left four wise kids,” Romero said. " (My mother) is not gone. She will never be gone. You will see me again. I will see you again at the state trial.”
Luis Juarez Jr., whose father, Luis Sr., at 90, was the oldest victim, said, “There is no forgiveness for this crime. It’s unforgiveable … Your soul is going straight to hell. There is no glory in shooting old people, women and children. There is no glory in that. You should not be breathing.”
