Gunman Who Killed 23 in Racist El Paso Walmart Shooting Avoids Death Penalty with Plea Deal

The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 has been offered a plea deal, as prosecutors announced they will no longer seek the death penalty.

Patrick Crusius is expected to plead guilty to state charges in the deadliest attack against Latinos in modern American history. In exchange, he will serve a sentence of life without parole without an appeal, El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya told NBC. 

In addition to the state charges, Crusius, 26, pleaded guilty in 2023 to federal hate crimes charges and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences, per the Associated Press. 

On Aug. 3, 2019, a Saturday during back-to-school shopping season, Crusius entered the Walmart and opened fire. Twenty-three people were killed in the shooting, including a man who died months later as a result of his injuries. In total, 26 people were injured. 

Prior to the shooting, Crusius wrote a hate-filled manifesto against Latino people and immigrants in which he referred to an “invasion” of immigrants to the United States. To commit the mass shooting, he drove more than 10 hours to El Paso from his home near Dallas, NBC reported.

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Montoya said that he dropped the death penalty after speaking with victims’ families and learning that a “strong consensus” of them wanted to see the “case concluded as quickly as possible, even if that meant no longer pursuing the death penalty,” NBC reported.

Withdrawing the death penalty had nothing to do with his stance on the matter, Montoya told the outlet.

Crusius is scheduled to plead guilty on April 21 to state charges, the district attorney’s office said.

“Now, no one in this community will ever have to hear the perpetrator’s name ever again,” Montoya said to NBC. “No more hearings. No more appeals. He will die in prison.”