August 4, 2019.
EL PASO — A gunman wielding an assault-style rifle killed 20 people and wounded 26 more Saturday at a busy Walmart and shopping center not far from the Mexican border, authorities said, in the latest mass shooting to shatter a community and shake the country.
While investigations are ongoing into the shooter’s motive, the attack “has a nexus to a hate crime,” El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said. Authorities think he posted a manifesto listing “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” as one of several motivations for the massacre.
The attack, which started around 10:40 a.m. on a scorching Texas summer day, sent shoppers racing for cover in a chaotic but all-too-familiar scene of carnage that prompted a massive police and medical response.
One official said the specific number of people killed and injured was subject to change, noting that some victims were in critical condition.
Two law enforcement officials familiar with the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, identified the suspect as Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old man from Allen, Tex., a suburb near Dallas. He surrendered to police near the shooting scene, authorities said.
(Washington Post reported)
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