El Paso death toll rises to 22, police department says

The number of victims who have died after a mass shooting in El Paso on Saturday has risen to 22, according to police.

“Sad to report that the number of fatalities increased by one. Victim passed early this morning at the hospital,” El Paso police said on Twitter just after 10:30 a.m. Monday.

Another victim died just after 10 a.m., the department said Monday afternoon. “The total is now at 22.”

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen released a list of the victims’ names Monday. They include 13 Americans, seven Mexican citizens, one German and one person with undetermined citizenship.

Dr. Stephen Flaherty from the Del Sol Medical Center said at a news conference that the gunshot wounds of patients are “devastating and major.”

He said 11 people are being treated at the hospital — three of those people are in critical condition. Seven people underwent surgery on Sunday and a number of people will need additional surgeries.

Before the police department released a list of victims, some family members and friends began identifying those who were killed or injured.

They include an 86-year-old grandmother who was killed shortly after getting off the phone with one of her sons, a 63-year-old man who shielded his wife and granddaughter from gunfire, a 15-year-old boy preparing for his first day at school and two sets of parents.

Federal authorities are pursuing a domestic terrorism case against the man accused of the massacre.

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.

El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza said prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

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.

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.”

The deadliest mass shooting in the state occurred in November 2017, when a 26-year-old Texas man killed 26 at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 10:46 AM.