Crime & Justice

Racist El Paso Mass Shooter Gets 90 Consecutive Life Sentences

‘BROKEN BRAIN’

Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges after authorities uncovered a racist, anti-Hispanic manifesto.

Patrick Crusius was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences for shooting 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Mark Lambie/Pool via Reuters

The Texas shooter who gunned down 23 people in a monstrous attack against Hispanic shoppers in an El Paso Walmart in 2019 was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences on Friday. In February, Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges after authorities uncovered a manifesto he posted on the forum 8chan about an hour before the shooting espousing racist and anti-immigrant beliefs. Police said Crusius drove hundreds of miles from his home near Dallas to the border town with an AK-style rifle to take aim at Hispanic shoppers he blamed for the “invasion” of Texas. Crusius could still face the death penalty in his separate state case, where he has been charged with capital murder. The trial date for that case has not yet been set. Before sentencing, Crusius’ attorney claimed “Patrick’s thinking is at odds with reality” and said his client had a “broken brain” with “delusional thinking.”

Read it at Associated Press