El Paso Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences

EL PASO, Texas — The Texas antheral who fatally changeable 23 people at an El Paso Walmart successful a targeted onslaught against radical of Mexican descent was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive beingness sentences.

Patrick Crusius, of Allen, agreed successful February to the back-to-back beingness sentences when he pleaded blameworthy to 90 national counts, including 45 hatred transgression charges.

The justice asked that helium is sent to ADX Florence, a maximum installation situation successful Fremont County, Colorado, and requested helium person intelligence wellness treatment.

The shooter traveled astir 600 miles from North Texas to El Paso earlier opening occurrence connected shoppers connected Aug. 3, 2019, with a WASR-10 rifle.

Minutes earlier the attack, helium posted a hate-filled racist screed online successful which helium referred to an "invasion" of immigrants to the United States, the Justice Department said.

The section has said Crusius, who admitted to constabulary helium was the shooter, is a self-described achromatic nationalist.

Sentencing began Wednesday, and for days relatives of those killed spoke to Crusius astir their choler and astir the harm helium did.

"Look astatine my son," Francisco Javier Rodriguez, whose 15-year-old lad Javier Amir was killed, said Thursday arsenic an representation of the teen was connected a screen.

Kathleen Johnson told Crusius that helium changeable her husband, David Johnson, astatine adjacent scope successful Aisle 3 that day.

"His guiltless humor was everywhere. He was our provider, loving begetter and grandfather," said Johnson, who has nighttime terrors and post-traumatic accent disorder.

"I don't adjacent privation to look astatine you," she said.

Thomas Hoffman spoke astir his father, Alexander Hoffman, and shared a photograph of his parents who had been joined 40 years and of a level summons for a formation his begetter was expected to instrumentality that day.

"You changeable my dada successful the back," helium said Wednesday. "You are a coward."

The shooter bought the WASR-10, which is simply a Romanian-made semi-automatic variant of the AK-47 battle rifle, arsenic good arsenic 1,000 rounds of 7.62mm hollow-point ammunition, astir 2 months earlier the attack, according to the indictment.

He drove overnight from Allen, which is northbound of Dallas, to El Paso earlier opening occurrence connected radical who were buying astatine the Walmart connected a Saturday morning.

In summation to the 23 radical who were killed, 22 others were injured. The 23rd victim, Guillermo "Memo" Garcia, was injured and died successful a infirmary successful April 2020, astir 9 months aft the shooting.

When Crusius was indicted connected national hatred transgression charges, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Eric Dreiband called the wide shooting, and different acts of hatred similar it, heinous crimes intended to terrorize and intimidate.

"This benignant of panic volition not stand," Dreiband said pursuing the connected Feb. 6, 2020, indictment.

The shooter pleaded blameworthy connected Feb. 8 to 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and 45 firearm counts, the Justice Department said astatine the time.

— Kayla McCormick reported from El Paso, Phil Helsel reported from Los Angeles.

— Minyvonne Burke contributed.