The young man who massacred 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is expected to plead guilty Monday, concluding one of the longest running cases in the state’s history.
Patrick Crusius, 26, agreed to a plea deal last month that will spare him a death penalty trial in exchange for life in prison without parole.
Crusius was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms on numerous federal charges, though former President Joe Biden also took the death penalty off the table. However, his criminal case in Texas state court has dragged on for nearly six years.
“Of course, we’re very disappointed with the [district attorney’s] office,” Albert Hernandez, whose sister and brother-in-law were killed in the shooting, told the El Paso Times. “We wanted them to [seek] the death penalty. We are happy because it will now be over, but we feel that we didn’t get full justice.”
This CCTV image shows the gunman, identified as Patrick Crusius, as he enters a Walmart store in El Paso on Aug. 3, 2019. (KTSM 9 / AFP/Getty Images)
Four different El Paso County district attorneys have handled the case since the Aug. 3, 2019, massacre. One was forced to resign for mismanaging it. James Montoya, a Democrat elected in 2024, was the one who finally took the death penalty off the table and offered the plea deal.
“No more hearings. No more appeals. He will die in prison,” Montoya said in March.
Crusius was 21 when he drove 10 hours from a Dallas suburb to El Paso to carry out the shooting. Before the shooting, he wrote online that he believed the U.S. was being “invaded” by Hispanics and believed he was fighting back.
The Walmart was packed with Saturday morning shoppers when Crusius opened fire, first in the parking lot and then inside the building. He gunned down 23 people and wounded 26 more.
“Patrick believed that he was acting at the direction of the president at the time,” Crusius’ friend and attorney, Joe Spencer, told the El Paso Times, referring to Donald Trump. “He thought it was his duty to stop the invasion because that’s what he perceived the president was telling him.”
People gather at a makeshift memorial honoring victims outside Walmart Aug. 15, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
Victim-impact statements will begin Monday and are expected to last for multiple days. At least 49 people have signed up to speak at the hearing, according to the El Paso Times. Crusius is not expected to speak at any point.
Montoya said he would address the community afterward. He has previously said he supports the death penalty and believes Crusius deserves it, but that a trial might not have begun until 2028.
“I just wanted it to be over,” Stephanie Melendez, whose father was killed, told The Associated Press. “I was done reliving everything. I was done going to court for hours. I was done with the briefings that happened after that would last hours, and it was just the same talk over and over again. We were just ready to be done with it all because, honestly, it’s like reliving the trauma over and over again.”
With News Wire Services
Originally Published:
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/04/20/el-paso-walmart-shooter-guilty-plea-texas/