El Paso Walmart shooting suspect Patrick Crusius charged with capital murder
The suspected El Paso gunman was charged with capital murder Sunday as a new school yearbook photo emerged of him in a tux.
The suspect, widely identified by police sources as Patrick Crusius, turned 21 exactly a week before Saturday’s massacre at a Texas Walmart killed 20 and injured 26.
Court records show that 6-foot, 220-pound Patrick Wood Crusius — also known under an alias with the surname Brown — was charged with capital murder while held in El Paso jail.
The 21-year-old from Allpatricken, Texas — a 10-hour drive from El Paso — is being held without bail, the records show.
Enhanced charges are possible and likely, FBI Special Agent in Charge Emerson Bowie said, according to KTSM.
“We are going to aggressively prosecute it both as capital murder but also as a hate crime, which is exactly what it appears to be,” Texas Governor Abbott told reporters.
Sheriff Richard Wiles, who oversees the jail, called it a racist attack, according to The Washington Post.
“This Anglo man came here to kill Hispanics,” Wiles reportedly wrote on Facebook. “I’m outraged and you should be too. This entire nation should be outraged.
“In this day and age, with all the serious issues we face, we are still confronted with people who will kill another for the sole reason of the color of their skin.”
Bespectacled Crusius is seen wearing a tux and bow tie as he poses without a smile in a yearbook photo.
He graduated from Plano Senior High School in 2017 before enrolling in Collin College where he studied until this Spring, according to NBC News.
“We are saddened and horrified by the news of the shooting,” the college told NBC in a statement.
“Collin College is prepared to cooperate fully with state and federal authorities in their investigation of this senseless tragedy. We join the governor and all Texans in expressing our heartfelt concern for the victims of the shooting and their loved ones.”
Via New York Post