Officers Praised for "Remarkable" Response to El Paso Walmart Shooting

El Paso Mayor Dee Morgan praised the officers for "remarkable police work" that saved lives and for capturing the suspect without firing a shot. In a press conference Saturday evening Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed "incredible gratitude" for law enforcement "minimizing the loss of life by confronting the shooter."

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The first reports of an active shooter at an El Paso Walmart store came in at 10:39 AM Saturday. By 10:45 AM the first law enforcement officers were on the scene. And by 11:06 the suspected shooter was in custody.

Numerous officers—including off-duty officers—from multiple agencies, including the El Paso Police Department, the El Paso Sheriff's Office, and state and federal agencies answered the call.

El Paso Mayor Dee Morgan praised the officers for "remarkable police work" that saved lives and for capturing the suspect without firing a shot. In a press conference Saturday evening Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed "incredible gratitude" for law enforcement "minimizing the loss of life by confronting the shooter."   

Suspect Patrick Crusius, 21 of Allen, TX, surrendered to approaching law enforcement officers in the west parking lot of the Walmart. He faces charges of capital murder in the shooting deaths of 22 people. Another 24 people were wounded—some critically—in the attack. No officers were injured.

On Sunday Texas authorities said they would seek the death penalty in the case.

Authorities believe the suspected shooter was motivated by hatred of Hispanics and immigrants in particular. He came from his home outside of Dallas to target the specific Walmart store, which is five miles from the main border checkpoint with the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.

The Walmart was filled with as many as 3,000 back-to-school shoppers and 100 employees when the gunman entered the store and reportedly opened fire with a semi-auto AK-47 variant rifle.

In addition to Texas capital murder charges, the suspect could face federal hate crime charges. Authorities believe he posted a manifesto on 8chan, a controversial unmoderated Internet imageboard that has been associated with hate speech and manifestos of mass killing suspects, about 30 minutes before the attack. Huffington Post reports the manifesto is white nationalist in nature, racist, anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant, and also eco-fascist. It reportedly argues for killing people to reduce human impact on the environment.  

 

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