Attorney General Merrick Garland recently sentenced a Texas resident to 90 consecutive life terms in prison for the August 3, 2019 shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Patrick Wood Crucius, 24, was the shooter who liked 23 people and injured 22 more, according to a release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The 90 consecutive life sentences announced today guarantee that Patrick Crusius will spend the rest of his life in prison for his deadly, racist rampage in El Paso," said Garland. We are grateful to the victims and their family members who have spent the last three days bravely sharing the devastation and pain they endured because of Crusius’s horrendous crimes. The Justice Department’s commitment to combating hate crimes is unwavering.”
According to the press release, Crusius entered a plea of guilty on February 8 to a 90-count indictment that included 45 counts for violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate acts Prevention Act and 45 counts for using a handgun both during and in connection with violent acts. According to the indictment, the defendant received a single life sentence for each count, including the hate crime acts that led to the deaths of Andre Anchondo, Jordan Anchondo, Arturo Benavides, Jorge Calvillo Garcia, Guillermo Garcia, Leonardo Campos, Angelina Englisbee, Maria Flores, Raul Flores, Adolfo Cerros Hernandez, Alexander Hoffmann, David Johnson, Luis Alfonso Juarez.
Crusius was also given a sentence for 22 counts of attempted murder and acts of hate crime that injured 22 people during the shooting. He was sentenced for 45 gun offenses in addition the hate crimes, as well as 23 charges of using a firearm in a violent crime that resulted in death, and 22 instances of using a firearm in a violent crime.
Court records show that he previously acknowledged that he killed and injured people at the Walmart because of the people he expected to be there, both in terms of actual and perceived national origin. Crusius also reportedly acknowledged that his goal was to kill everyone.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas said: “This defendant systematically targeted and killed 23 innocent people, injured 22 more, and forever changed the lives of so many others who witnessed this horrific event, leaving a haunting scar on the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez community and beyond. While today’s sentence cannot possibly replace the lives lost or undo the harm done to the survivors and those otherwise impacted by this horrific event, it is our hope this sentence of 90 consecutive life terms brings some finality and peace to those effected. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas will continue to aggressively prosecute those who commit violence because of bias or hate, seeking justice in the names of the victims and their loved ones.”