Patrick Crusius, the perpetrator of the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at a Walmart supermarket in El Paso, was sentenced Monday for the second time to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The new sentence corresponds to the state trial in Texas and is in addition to the sentence imposed in 2023 by a federal court, which gave him 90 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to hate crimes and murder.
Crusius, 26, pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty that the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office initially kept on the table. During the hearing, Judge Sam Medrano said the crime not only did not break the community, but strengthened its unity: “The community you tried to destroy has become a symbol of resilience, love and humanity in the face of hate,” he said.
Racist attack
The massacre left 23 dead and 22 wounded, mostly Latinos.
Shortly after the attack, Patrick Crusius confessed to planning it based on a xenophobic manifesto.
There he expressed his fear of a supposed “Hispanic invasion” in Texas.
The document, which he posted online before the shooting, contained white supremacist ideology and explicit statements against Mexican immigrants.
Crusius pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty
QueOnnda.com
Patrick Crusius’ attorney, Joe Spencer, acknowledged that his client believed he was acting in accordance with the political rhetoric that dominated public discourse at the time.
Although Crusius denied that any political figure was directly responsible, he acknowledged that he was acting in response to widely disseminated anti-immigrant messages.
Local justice
Buzzy
The state prosecution remained stalled for more than five years.
It was only in March 2025 that El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya announced the waiver of seeking the death penalty if the defendant pleaded guilty, which he eventually did.
In his message after the hearing, Montoya called to put aside the hateful rhetoric and focus on honoring the victims:
“We cannot allow divisive speeches to dehumanize our communities.”
The case of Patrick Crusius has been emblematic for the Hispanic community in the United States.
Not only because of the tragic number of victims, but because of what it revealed about the risks of hate speech.
The double conviction reaffirms a legal and social message: crimes motivated by racism and xenophobia will not go unpunished.
For more information, visit QueOnnda.com.
