El Paso Walmart shooter expected to plead guilty to avoid death penalty

The gunman who killed 23 people in a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 is expected to plead guilty to state charges of capital murder on Monday and receive a life sentence.

Patrick Crusius, now 26, was offered a plea deal by El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya last month that said the state would not pursue the death penalty. Crusius has already been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in federal court after pleading guilty in 2023 to hate crime and weapons charges. However, the federal death penalty was taken off the table under the Biden administration.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Crusius was in the custody of local authorities and would be transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice if sentenced on state charges.

At just 21 years old, Crusius drove over 10 hours from his home in Dallas to El Paso to carry out the racially motivated massacre. He began by shooting people in the parking lot before entering the Walmart and continuing his attack with an AK-style rifle. After exiting the store, he opened fire on a passing vehicle, killing an elderly man and wounding his wife. He was arrested shortly after and confessed to the shooting.

Prior to the attack, Crusius posted on an online message board explaining the shooting would be “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He also claimed that Hispanics would take over the government and economy, and told officers after the shooting that he had intentionally targeted Mexicans.

One of his attorneys, Joe Spencer, described Crusius as “an individual with a broken brain,” claiming he had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition associated with delusions, hallucinations, and mood swings.

DA Montoya said the plea deal was offered in part because most of the victims’ families wanted the case to be resolved. While Montoya, a Democrat, said he personally supports the death penalty and believes Crusius deserves it, he noted that a trial might not have taken place until 2028 if the state had continued to pursue it.