El Paso shooting investigated as domestic terrorism case. Here’s what we know
Federal authorities are pursuing a domestic terrorism case against the man accused of killing 20 people at an El Paso shopping center.
Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, of Allen, was booked on a charge of capital murder Sunday by the El Paso Police Department. Crusius laid down his gun and surrendered to officers near the scene of Saturday’s shooting at a Walmart, police said.
Asked to describe the scene at the shopping center, El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said he was at a loss for words.
“You have to see it for yourself,” he said. “When I first got into this job, I never knew there was an odor to blood. There is.”
El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza said prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
“We are a very safe community, we pride ourselves on being safe, and certainly this community is rocked and shocked and saddened by what has happened here yesterday,” Esparza said.
FBI investigators are conducting all their interviews in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and have not found any evidence that Crusius had connections in El Paso, special agent Jeanette Harper said at a press conference at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Harper said they believe Crusius was acting alone and do not suspect he had accomplices.
Law enforcement officials finished removing bodies from the scene Sunday evening, El Paso spokesman Sgt. Robert Gomez said. Investigators also determined the shooting was isolated to the Walmart and the parking lot and shots were not fired inside the Cielo Vista shopping center.
Federal charges
John Bash, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said federal authorities are also considering firearm and hate crime charges.
“We’re going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is deliver swift and certain justice,” he said.
Authorities were investigating the possibility the shooting was a hate crime because of a racist, anti-immigrant screed posted online shortly before the shooting. In the manifesto, the author, believed to be the gunman, said the attack was “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
On Sunday, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo issued a disaster declaration, triggering the city’s emergency management plan and making it eligible for aid from the state.
“The impact of the shooting left multiple deaths and injuries in addition to property damage,” the declaration said. “The City of El Paso faces an exhaustion of resources for long-term recovery, including mental health issues affecting the community and first responders.”
Suspect had lived with grandparents
Meanwhile, the FBI said agents executed three search warrants in the DFW area. Authorities did not give details on the locations, other than to say the media was at one of them: the house in Allen where agents were seen late Saturday and early Sunday. An officer outside of the house said a warrant was served there between 5 and 6 a.m. Sunday.
Police parked near the house told reporters to stay on the sidewalk and away from the home on Sunday morning.
A man identified as Crusius’ grandfather was seen speaking to an FBI agent who went to the door, according to KDFW/Channel 4. An Allen police officer on scene could not confirm the man was an FBI agent but did say Crusius’ family was home.
A statement from the suspect’s grandparents, Larry and Cynthia Brown, said that Crusius lived with them while he was attending college.
“He moved out of our house six weeks ago and has spent a few nights here while we were out of town,” a family friend read out loud from a piece of paper while speaking with reporters on Sunday evening. “His driver’s license and mailing address were at our house in Allen. That connection has made us a focus of the media, of course. We are talking only to law enforcement agencies and will not be making further statements to the media.”
The grandparents’ statement said they were “devastated” by the tragedy in El Paso and are praying for the victims.
Records showed the suspect had lived at another house in Allen. Notes on the door of the house requested people not disturb the home and said the Crusius family had moved.
A neighbor who declined to give his name recalled the family, but said he didn’t know much about them. Crusius may have been a few years ahead of his son in grade school, he said.
“They kept to themselves mostly,” he said.
A former neighbor, Leigh Ann Locascio, told the Los Angeles Times that Crusius was an “extreme loner” who sat alone on the bus and “didn’t interact a whole lot with anyone.”
Allen police said that they had contact with Crusius three times.
In 2014, he was reported as a runaway. He returned home about 30 minutes after the police report was made. Two years later, he was listed as one of eight passengers on a Plano school district bus that was involved in a minor traffic accident. In March, Crusius called Allen police dispatch to report a false residential alarm at his grandparents’ house. Police said the call was “cleared without incident according to protocol.”
Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, who represents the Allen area, said in a statement: “I have been apprised that the shooter, Patrick Crusius, a 2017 graduate of Plano Senior High School, resided in Allen. As State Representative for this area, I am communicating directly with local law enforcement, Plano ISD leaders & fellow state officials to ensure we are responding appropriately and offering any and all assistance and aid to our friends in El Paso.”
Crusius appears twice in the 2017 Plano Senior High School yearbook, which says he took a criminal justice class that involved researching crime data.
“It is interesting to learn about how the world of law enforcement works,” the yearbook quotes Crusius as saying.
A statement from Collin College said Crusius attended the school from the fall of 2017 through the spring of 2019.
“Collin College is prepared to cooperate fully with state and federal authorities in their investigation of this senseless tragedy,” it said. “We join the governor and all Texans in expressing our heartfelt concern for the victims of the shooting and their loved ones.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2019 at 9:36 AM.
