It’s a gunman He killed 23 people in a racist attack Targeting Hispanic shoppers at Walmart near the US-Mexico border in 2019 avoided the death penalty based on the plea offer announced Tuesday, and abruptly ended years of efforts by prosecutors to confirm they were facing a fatal injection execution.
El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya said at a press conference that he ran across the state for one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, posting a racist screed just before opening the fire.
“This is to ensure that the families of the 23 victims who lost their lives on that horrible day and 22 injured can ultimately be resolved in our court system,” Montoya said in a statement.
“Now, no one in this community will have to hear the perpetrator’s name again,” he added. “There will be no more hearings. There will be no more appeals. He will die in prison.”
However, Montoya admitted at a press conference that not all families agreed to a reversal by his office. Under previous guidance, he promised to bring the case to justice and seek the death penalty.
Adria Gonzalez, a survivor who panicked shoppers towards the exit, said she felt that not pursuing the death penalty was a “slap in the face for all victims.”
Under the offer, Montoya said Crucius pleaded guilty to murder and would be allowed to live in prison without the possibility of parole. Montoya said the judicial hearing and ruling was set for April 21, and families could issue a victim’s impact statement.
Crusius’s attorney Mark Stevens did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Crusius, 26 years old, was like that. He has already been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences. At the federal level after pleading guilty in 2023 to hate criminal charges. Under the Biden administration, federal prosecutors also removed the death penalty from the table.
Montoya said he supports the death penalty and believes Crucius deserves it. However, he said he met with the victims’ families, and while some were willing to wait as long as they were sentenced to death, there was a top desire to finish the process.
“I’m glad it’s over,” said Elise Hoffman-Taus, whose father, Alexander Hoffman, was killed. “This is the outcome I wanted.”
Montoya, a Democrat who took office in January after defeating a Republican incumbent appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, is the fourth district attorney to oversee the case.
His predecessor, Bill Hicks, said following the announcement that he was ready to bring the case to trial and pursue the death penalty, but he was unable to condemn Montoya’s reasoning behind the judicial offer.
“That’s not the reason I would have followed,” Hicks said. “I know it’s very difficult for him, and I respect that it’s a very difficult decision.”
The white Crucius, 21, dropped out of community college when police said he drove over 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) from his home near Dallas to El Paso.
After posting online, his racist rant fired with AK-style rifles inside and outside as he warned about the state’s Hispanic “invasion.”
Crucius was arrested shortly after the shooting and confessed to an officer who stopped him at the intersection, police said.
Before the attack, Crusius appears to have been consumed by immigration debates, supporting other messages celebrating President Donald Trump’s strict border policy, his first term at the time. He went further with a screed just before the shooting, saying Hispanics would take over the government and the economy.
In federal cases, prosecutors did not formally explain their decision not to seek the death penalty, but they admitted it. Crusius suffered from schizoaffective disordermay be marked by hallucinations, delusions, and mood swings.
Republican Abbott said Tuesday after an announcement that Crucius deserves death: “Such shooting is the purpose of the death penalty.”
People who were killed He was old, ranging from a 15-year-old high school athlete to several grandparents. They included immigrants, retired city bus drivers, teachers, merchants including former iron workers, and several Mexican nationals who crossed the US border on their daily shopping trips.
In 2023, Crusius agreed to pay More than $5 million for his victims. Court records show that his lawyer and the Department of Justice had reached an agreement over the amount of compensation and was subsequently approved by a US district judge. There was no indication that he had any significant assets.
Dean Requode, whose mother, Margie Requode, was also killed in the shooting, said that Crucius deserves death, but that’s time to give the matter a break.
“Our loved ones will always be loved and remembered as decent people who live their lives and do their best,” he said. “We need to do the same thing, that’s what they would have wanted.”
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Associated Press writers Nadia Rasan of Austin, Texas, and Lisa Bauman of Bellingham, Washington.
