A man who shot 23 people to death at a Texas Walmart in 2019 was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life sentences and could still face the death penalty.
Patrick Crusius, 24, committed one of the most tragic hate crimes in the country by mass shooting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso, TX, a city on the Mexican border.
Shortly after the attack, the man posted a racist message online. However, it wasn’t until last year that he pleaded guilty to nearly 50 federal hate crimes.
Crusius’ sentencing was announced Friday after two days of intense testimony from the victims’ families, and following the conviction, the judge in charge of the case recommended that the man be taken to ADX Florence Prison in Colorado, the most secure prison in the country.
BREAKING: The El Paso Walmart shooter Patrick Crusius was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences years in prison in federal court Friday for killing 23 people and injuring 22 during the August 3, 2019 shooting. https://t.co/1IslyN9u60
— KFOX14 News (@KFOX14) July 7, 2023
He could still face the death penalty
When Crusius pleaded guilty, he did so in an attempt to avoid the death sentence. Although federal prosecutors agreed and took this option off the table, Texas prosecutors have announced that when the man is tried in state court, they will attempt to put him on death row.
“We’ll be seeing you again, coward. No apologies, no nothing,” expressed one of the victims’ relatives, alluding to the upcoming judicial process that he still faces, which could lead to his death.
One of the deadliest shootings in the world
According to an Axios compilation of shooting data, the attack carried out by Patrick Crusius ranks as the seventh deadliest shooting in just over seven decades.
The shooting with the highest death toll was the one that occurred at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017. Sixty people died, and more than 850 were injured.
