Families Address Texas Walmart Gunman Who Killed Their Loved Ones

Family members and survivors got their last chance to address the man who killed 23 people in 2019 face-to-face in court this week.

A daughter recalled the life lessons taught by her father. A woman said she was forever changed by her injuries. A father spoke of celebrating his son’s birthday in a cemetery.

One by one, in an El Paso courthouse not far from where a gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in a 2019 attack targeting Hispanic shoppers, victims’ family members and survivors got their last chance to address him face-to-face in court this week.

They described to Patrick Crusius, now 26, the pain and devastation left by one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Several told him the community had met his hatred with love and unity.

Crusius, a white community college dropout, had posted online a racist screed about a Hispanic invasion of Texas before opening fire with an AK-style rifle at the store near the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 3, 2019. Wearing shackles and a protective vest during his plea hearing Monday, Crusius did not address the families and survivors. Crusius, who told officers following the shooting that he’d targeted Mexicans, will serve multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to capital murder and 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Here is what some of the victims’ families and survivors said: