Patrick Wood Crusius, the El Paso, Texas, Walmart mass shooting suspect, has been charged with federal hate crimes, and prosecutors will announce their case at a press conference Thursday, according for a source cited by The Associated Press. This was described as a person with direct knowledge of the situation, and they were not authorized to discuss it before authorities official made it public.
Crusius’s name doesn’t appear in federal online court records as of Thursday afternoon.
Federal prosecutors are expected to announce the federal hate crime charges against suspected Walmart shooter, Patrick Crusius, at 3p PT in El Paso. We’ll be live-streaming that on our website https://t.co/iDYcNZ55lf as well as our Facebook page. https://t.co/vIZMUfbhRo
— Feven Kay (@Feven_Kay) February 6, 2020
State officials already charged him as the gunman who killed 22 people, and injured others in an August 2019 shooting in El Paso. The alleged motive is no mystery. He told authorities he was targeting “Mexicans,” police said. The suspect is also the alleged author of an online manifesto ranting about immigration, especially Hispanic people coming to the United States.
Crusius pleaded not guilty last year in his state capital murder case.
CBS News has confirmed the El Paso shooting suspect’s mother called police weeks before the massacre, because she was concerned about her son owning an AK-style assault rifle. Police say Patrick Crusius used a weapon like that to kill 22 people at an El Paso Walmart on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/KxVcTyKZ2r
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) August 8, 2019
Eight Mexican citizens died in the attack, according to the AP. Most victims had Hispanic last names, and another one was a German man who lived in Ciudad Juarez.
[Mugshot via El Paso Police Department and Getty Image]
