The Texas gunman, who killed 23 people in a 2019 attack, targeted at El Paso Walmart, will plead guilty to the murder and eventually allow the case to end.
Patrick Crusius, 26, is expected to plead guilty on Monday and sentence a criminal sentence, unlikely to be mass shootings of racist near the U.S.-Mexico border on August 3, 2019.
Crusius has been sentenced to 90 life imprisonment after pleading guilty in 2023, after pleading guilty in hate crimes and weapons charges. Federal prosecutors under the Biden administration also sentenced to death.
The Gunners are expected to serve in Texas prisons. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Crusius was initially arrested by local authorities and would be sentenced to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice if sentenced on state charges.
El Paso Walmart shooter killed 23
A woman reflected a woman when she looked at the temporary memorial at the scene of a mass shooting in a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. (AP)
Crusius, 21, said he had arrived in El Paso for more than 10 hours from his home in a suburb of Dallas and opened fire at Wal-Mart.
Prosecutors said Crusius was muted when he began firing an AK-style rifle in the store’s parking lot. He then moved into the store and continued to open fire, turning shoppers at a bank near the entrance to kill nine people, and then fired at people in the checkout area and aisle.
When he left the store, he shot in a passing car, killing an old man and injuring his wife.
Shortly afterwards, Cruzsius was detained and admitted to the shooting.
Before the shooting, Crusius, a white man, said the Holocaust was “response to Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He also claimed that Hispanics would take over the government and the economy.
“Invasion” language continues after El Paso Walmart shoots
In this August 12, 2019 photo, the mourner visited the temporary memorial near Walmart in El Paso, Texas. (AP)
His social media posts include comments about the national immigration debate. He expressed support for President Donald Trump's policy of addressing immigration, including the president's plan to build a wall on the southern border. The Republican president was his first term at the time.
After the shooting, Cruzsius told officers that he was targeting the Mexicans.
The people killed in the shooting ranged from 15 years old to grandparents. The victims include immigrants and Mexican nationals who crossed the U.S. border during regular shopping trips.
“Racism is something I always want to think doesn't exist. Obviously, that's the case,” Jessica Coca Garcia, who suffered a leg injury but recovered, said in a speech at the county jail a week after the shooting. Her husband was killed in the incident.
Joe Spencer, the attorney representing Crusius, described Crusius as “a person with a broken brain.” Spencer said Crusius was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which may include hallucinations, delusions and mood swings.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in El Paso, Texas, a memorial to commemorate the victims of the 2019 Walmart mass shooting. (AP)
Click here to get the Fox News app
Montoya said he offered a plea agreement because most of the victims' relatives were eager for conclusions, although he admitted that not all families agreed. He said he supported the death penalty and believed Cruz deserved it, but the case could not be tried until 2028 if his office continues to accept the death penalty.
When he took office in January, Montoya became the fourth district attorney to oversee the case in nearly six years. One of his ex resigned in 2022 for handling the case. Montoya said the common 19th pandemic also led to delays in resolving the case.
Stephanie Melendez's father David Johnson, who died in covering up his wife and granddaughter, said she initially wanted Crusius to be sentenced before she wanted the case to continue working hard as the case continued.
“I just wanted to end it,” Melendez said. “I've done it all. I've been on for a few hours. I've finished the briefing that happened after that, and it's a conversation over and over. We're just ready to do it all because, honestly, it's like recovering trauma over and over again.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
