Tito Anchondo, whose brother Andre Anchondo was killed in the attack, called the sentence “the best it’s going to get” because it ensures that Crusius will be left to think about his actions in prison for the rest of his life. “He wanted to eliminate a class of people,” Hanna said. attorney who prosecuted the government’s case, said Crusius had embraced the “insidious lie” that America only belonged to white people. He went further in his rant posted before the attack, sounding warnings that Hispanics were going to take over the government and economy. linked to hate crimes since 2006, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.īefore the shooting, Crusius had appeared consumed by the nation’s immigration debate, tweeting #BuildtheWall and posts that praised then-President Donald Trump’s hard-line border policies. The attack was the deadliest of a dozen mass shootings in the U.S. One man displayed photographs of his slain father and insisted that the gunman look at them.Ĭrusius’ family did not appear in the courtroom during the sentencing phase. One by one, family members used their first opportunity since the shooting to directly address Crusius, describing how their lives have been upended by grief and pain. In addition to the dead, more than two dozen people were injured and numerous others were severely traumatized as they hid or fled. The sentencing in El Paso followed two days of impact statements from relatives of the victims, including citizens of Mexico and a German national. He said Crusius also searched online to look for ways to address his mental health, and he dropped out of a community college near Dallas because of his struggles. “Patrick’s thinking is at odds with reality … resulting in delusional thinking,” Spencer said.Ĭrusius became alarmed by his own violent thoughts, Spencer said, and he once left a job at a movie theater because of them. Joe Spencer, Crusius’ attorney, told the judge before the sentencing that his client has a “broken brain.” He said Crusius had arrived in El Paso without a specific target in mind before winding up at the Walmart. Attorney General Merrick Garland said after the sentencing that “no one in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence.” government’s case, Crusius received a life sentence for each of the 90 charges against him, half of which were classified as hate crimes. But Texas prosecutors have said they will try to put Crusius on death row when he stands trial in state court. border as an “invasion,” waving off critics who say the rhetoric fuels anti-immigrant views and violence.Ĭrusius pleaded guilty in February after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. In the years since the shooting, Republicans have described migrants crossing the southern U.S.
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