El Paso Gunman Sentenced to Life in Prison, Closing the Case
The Texas man who killed 23 people and wounded 22 others in a racist, anti-Hispanic attack at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019 was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences without the possibility for parole on 21 April.
He will also serve life in prison for each of 22 accounts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The conclusion of the state case ends years of prosecution, including a federal case that closed in 2023 with the issuance of 90 consecutive life sentences for hate crime and violent crime charges. In total, he was issued 135 life sentences.
Patrick Crusius, who was 21 years old at the time of the attack, accepted a plea deal to avoid the death penalty in the Texas state court case. District Attorney James Montoya said he offered the deal after the majority of the families of those killed requested it, trying to bring the case to a close, NPR reported.
Both the prosecution and defense discussed the anti-immigrant rhetoric that sparked Crusius’ attack, including that the gunman explicitly stated that the attack was a response to a perceived Hispanic invasion of Texas, El Paso Matters reported. Crusius drove more than 650 miles from his home near Dallas, Texas, to El Paso in search of Hispanic victims. He had also posted a hate-filled manifesto that used white supremacist rhetoric to explain his actions.
Defense attorney Joe Spencer said that his client had a long history of mental illness and was radicalized by reading white nationalist websites. Spencer noted that these factors didn’t excuse his client’s actions, but they demonstrated how Crusius had become isolated and focused on online chatter and disinformation about immigration.
Spencer told the court that, “On August 3rd 2019, Patrick Crusius afflicted a wound on our community that may never fully heal. He brought violence and terror to a place of peace, shattering lives and forever changing the landscape of El Paso. To everyone who lost loved ones, to those who were injured, to everyone who’s sense of safety was violated, we offer our deepest, most sincere condolences.”
Crusius himself did not offer any apology during the sentencing.
409th District Judge Sam Medrano told Crusius: “Now, as you begin the rest of your life locked away, remember this: Your mission failed. You did not divide this city, you strengthened it. You did not silence its voice, you made it louder. You did not instill fear, you inspired unity. El Paso rose stronger and braver. The community you tried to break has become a symbol of resilience, of love overcoming hate, of humanity enduring in the face of evil.”
In one picture of that resilience and love, the sister of one of the shooting victims told Crusius in a victim statement on 22 April that she wanted to hug him to show her forgiveness. Medrano permitted 71-year-old Yolanda Tinajero to embrace Crusius in the courtroom.
“Now you have the rest of your life to live in loneliness, and in that loneliness, you will feel ours,” Tinajero said in her victim statement, when she addressed her brother’s killer. “You’re so young to be in this place. That’s the choice you made. I hope and pray that you repent and ask the Lord for forgiveness for your soul’s sake. May God have mercy on your soul when your time comes. And I truly say this from the bottom of my heart.”
In an act that left people in the courtroom in tears, a judge gave Yolanda Tinajero permission to hug the gunman who killed her brother and 22 other people in 2019 in an anti-Hispanic attack at an El Paso Walmart.https://t.co/LCZGbJuXLf
— El Paso Matters (@elpasomatters) April 22, 2025
