Patrick Crusius, 26, the mass shooter who killed 23 people in an El Paso Walmart in 2019, is set to avoid the death penalty after accepting a plea agreement. Following his guilty plea to hate crimes and firearms charges in 2023, he was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences.
According to the Daily Mail, Crusius will accept the plea deal provided by El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya in March on Monday, April 21. The announcement comes after federal prosecutors eliminated the death penalty under the Biden administration. According to CNN, the decision-making process was never made clear.
Despite his plea agreement offer, DA Montoya feels Crusius merits the death penalty. However, after speaking with the relatives of the victims, he decided that a plea offer was the best option. According to reports, the majority wanted to settle the state court case rather than extend it further.
“The vast majority of them want this case over and done with as quickly as possible,” Montoya said. He added that if the state seeks the death penalty, the case could take years in hearings and appeals. “I could see a worst-case scenario where this would not go to trial until 2028 if we continued to seek the death penalty,” he added.
This plea agreement has not been without controversy, as Texas Governor Greg Abbott feels he should face the death penalty. “I have heard of that.” To be honest, I believe the guy deserves the death penalty,” Abbot remarked. “Any shooting like that is what capital punishment is for.”
Mass Shooting
On August 3, 2019, after driving for more than 10 hours from his Dallas home, Crusius, then 21, while wearing earmuffs, began shooting people at the El Paso Walmart, located at 7101 Gateway West Blvd.
He continued to fire his AK-style rifle after entering the store. After leaving the store, he shot at a car, killing an elderly man and wounding his wife. Patrick Crusius brutally murdered 23 individuals. Shortly after, the arresting officers apprehended him at a local intersection, where he confessed to the massacre.
Crusius’s online comment made prior to the massacre stated that he took it out “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
In 2023, a federal court sentenced Patrick Crusius to 90 consecutive life sentences. CNN said that half of the charges were labeled as hate crimes. Crusius agreed to pay more than $5 million to the people he ruthlessly killed.
