24-year-old Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges including hate crimes and firearms offenses in Texas.
From this, a U.S. Federal Court ruled to sentence Crusius to 90 consecutive life terms after he walked into a Walmart Supermarket in El Paso, Texas, and opened fire in August 2019.
This resulted in the death of 23 individuals and dozens injured, mainly Latinos – one of the deadliest attacks that ever took place in the United States.
Following a 3-day hearing, the life sentences, which will be served consecutively, were handed down by Senior U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama.
Prior to the court’s decision Friday, Crusius’ attorney spoke on behalf of the shooter saying that his actions were due to a severe mental illness.
Aside from charges in Texas, Crusius pleaded not guilty to capital murder and could possibly face the death penalty in another state.
As ordered by Judge Guaderrama, Crusius will be serving his prison sentence at the ADX Florence Supermax Federal Prison near Florence, Colorado, where some of the country’s worst criminals are housed.
To note, there have already been 362 shootings in the United States in 2023 alone according to the gun violence archive, already surpassing the number of days this year.
Since the 4th of July, 2023, 10 people have died while at least 79 others were injured from mass shootings across America.
