El Paso shooting suspect confessed and said he targeted Mexicans, affidavit says
Authorities said the 21-year-old man accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart confessed after surrendering and said he had been targeting Mexicans. El Paso Detective Adrian Garcia said in an arrest warrant affidavit that Patrick Crusius emerged with his hands up from a vehicle stopped at an intersection shortly after last Saturday's attack and told officers, "I'm the shooter."
He said Crusius later waived his Miranda Rights and agreed to speak with detectives, telling them he was targeting Mexicans during his attack. A racist, anti-immigrant screed believed to be written by Crusius and uploaded to the web forum 8chan expressed concerns about the growing Hispanic population of Texas.
An attorney for Crusius' family said earlier this week that his mother called police in Allen, Texas, weeks before the deadly shooting, because her son owned an AK 47-style assault rifle. The lawyer added that Crusius did not identify herself or her son to police when she made the call and that the department did not file the call or follow up on it.
The Allen police department on Friday confirmed the phone call and said a public safety officer answered informational questions about firearms possession and ownership. The officer also additionally inquired about the emotional state and intentions of the person who had ordered the weapon, police said.
Investigators said Crusius drove 10 hours from Allen to El Paso.
Crusius is being held on capital murder charges, the El Paso County District Attorney's Office said. The District Attorney's office is seeking the death penalty.
Twenty-two people were killed in the attack and about two dozen others were wounded. Eight of the people killed were Mexican nationals. On Thursday, a funeral was held in Ciudad Juarez for one of the victims.
Since the shooting, some Latinos in El Paso told CBS News they are living in fear. "I'm scared... for my children and my grandkids and all of us. I'm scared," Ermelinda Blanco told CBS News' Manuel Bojorquez.
