El Paso victim impact statement: 'A coward chose to use violence against the innocent'

EL PASO (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The federal sentencing hearing for Patrick Crusius began Wednesday morning. In February, the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and firearms charges in the August 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. 

The hearing opened with a presentence report discussion. Then, the judge asked the gunman if he would like to give a statement. Crusius answered, "No, Sir." The mood in the courtroom was reportedly elevated when he walked into the courtroom filled with family members of the 23 victims, who died in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. 

Victim impact statements are now underway. It's the first time victims' relatives will address the gunman in court, nearly four years after his hate-filled rampage.

"I hope God one day finds the heart to forgive you for what you've done," Raul Loya, who is related to one of the victims, said before crying.

Crusius, who was shackled by hands and feet, showed no emotion during Wednesday's proceeding, only nodding his head and at times becoming fidgety.

The victim impact statements are expected to last two days. The gunman's sentencing will take place the morning after those are completed, or on the Monday following if they conclude on a Friday, per court filings. A common thread in Wednesday's statements was the trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder many still battle as a result of the shooting.

"I used to be a happy, normal teenager..."

"I still remember everything so clearly, even though I have tried to erase it from my memory," a teenage soccer player identified in court as G.A. recounted.

"You killed my father in such a cowardly way," Thomas Hoffman said. "He was not a racist like you."

Hoffman lost his father, Alexander Hoffman, during the massacre. Alexander Hoffman was an engineer who migrated to Mexico from Germany in the 1980s and enjoyed listening to The Beatles and watching James Bond movies, his daughter Elis said in a statement through an attorney. She described her father as a "gentle giant with a big heart."

The Hoffmans said that on the day of the shooting, they were in disbelief that their father was a victim because he was scheduled to fly to Germany.

"You're an ignorant coward and you deserve to suffer in jail and then burn in hell," Thomas Hoffman said. "You are an evil parasite that is nothing without a weapon."

Hoffman held a photo of his father and looked directly at Crusius and said, "See it. See it."

It was unclear whether Crusius looked at the photo, but he could be seen swallowing while Hoffman said, "You can see it."

Thirteen victims made impact statements Wednesday in person or through a representative, including a minor who was wearing an "El Paso Strong" T-shirt and had trouble speaking between sobs as she described the horror she survived inside the Walmart.

"He started shooting," she said between sobs. "I prayed to God."

"I used to be a happy, normal teenager, until a coward chose to use violence against the innocent," she ended her statement saying. "I'm no longer as happy as I used to be."

Victims directly address gunman

Twice during the hearing, speakers who were just feet from Crusius interrupted their remarks to admonish him for rolling his eyes at them.

Raymond Attaguile, whose brother-in-law David Johnson was killed while back-to-school shopping with his granddaughter, faced Crusius and said, "You can roll your eyes if you want to. It doesn't bother me."

And Johnson's granddaughter, whose mother says her life was saved by Johnson during the shooting, said, "You can roll your eyes; you can smile; you can smirk," before continuing her emotional recounting of the events that day.

On both occasions Crusius shook his head, seemingly denying the actions.

A statement read by attorneys on behalf of Alfredo Hernandez, the brother of victim Maribel Loya Hernandez, also referenced Crusius smirking in court, pointing to a pattern of him saying more with body language than with words.

Johnson's granddaughter, referred to in court as K.M. because she is a minor, was accompanied during her statement by a therapy dog, brought into the courtroom to comfort the victims.

Johnson's daughter, Stephanie Melendez, also addressed Crusius in court Wednesday.

"I want you to remember my voice. I speak for all the daughters who lost their fathers," Melendez said. "In your act of hatred, you stole a good man from this world... he will be remembered but you will not."

One father says he has nothing to tell the gunman

Emotions ran high even before the hearing, with Paul Jamrowski, the father of victim Jordan Anchondo, telling reporters, "There's nothing to tell a person like that," referring to Crusius.

"What's done is done," he said, adding that the matter is in God's hands.

Jordan Anchondo, who was 24, and her husband Andre Anchondo, who was 23, died while shielding their 2-month-old son, Paul, from the gunfire.

"It's very, very hard," Jamrowski said. "I mean, you sit there and you think, 'Man, if you didn't do what you did, I'd have my child to hug and hold right now.'"

The lives lost that day "will never be brought back," Jamrowski said. "So how is that justice? And who's to say what justice is?"

Jamrowski said he has custody of Paul, who is now 4, along with Paul's older sister, Skylin, who will soon turn 9. Jordan and Andre Anchondo also had another young child.

"He's too young to understand," Jamrowski said.

Most seats in the gallery were taken by the families of the victims.

The plea agreement

The gunman has agreed to accept 90 consecutive life sentences, one for each count in the indictment. Prosecutors are no longer pursuing the death penalty, although they were when the gunman initially pleaded not guilty. He faces 23 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, 23 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, 22 counts of hate crimes involving attempt to kill and 22 counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. 

An arrest warrant noted that Crusius said "I'm the shooter," when surrendering to officers in 2019. The gunman has described himself as a White nationalist and admitted to shooting shoppers "because of the actual and perceived Hispanic national origin of the people," according to Justice Department documents. Prosecutors say he published a screed titled "An Inconvenient Truth" shortly before driving 11 hours from Allen to El Paso, in which he said he was motivated to kill Hispanics because he was "simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by the invasion."  

State trial

Crusius is also facing a capital murder charge in Texas that could result in the death penalty. He will go into state custody later this fall, likely in October, following federal restitution proceedings in late September, according to the El Paso District Attorney's Office.

His state trial is expected sometime in 2024 or 2025, according to Jennifer Cortes, a spokesperson for District Attorney Bill Hicks. The trial date will be set by Judge Sam Medrano of the 409th District Court in El Paso.