Man who killed 23 people in Walmart shooting gets 90 consecutive life sentences
Family members of the victims addressed Patrick Crusius for the first time at the sentencing
The 24-year-old man who killed 23 people at a Walmart in 2019 has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences.
Patrick Crusius was sentenced on Friday (7 July) after pleading guilty to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges earlier this year.
His attack took place on 3 August, 2019, when Crusius drove more than 700 miles from his home in the Dallas area before he opened fire using an AK-style rifle, causing one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.
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Before he started shooting, Crusius posted a racist message online claiming Texas was at risk of a Hispanic 'invasion'.
Victims included a number of Mexican citizens, and Crusius' actions also injured more than two dozen people and left others severely traumatized.
The possibility that Crusius would receive the death penalty for his crimes was taken off the table when he pled guilty, though he could still face such a sentence in a separate case in a Texas state court, which is yet to go to trial.
Relatives of those who died faced Crusius for the first time at the sentencing, where they were able to give impact statements before the court.
Among those who spoke was Thomas Hoffman, who lost his father, Alexander Hoffman, in the shooting.
"You killed my father in such a cowardly way," Hoffman said. "He was not a racist like you."
Alexander Hoffman had been an engineer who had moved to Mexico from Germany in the 1980s.
He was described by his daughter Elis as a 'gentle giant with a big heart'.
According to CBS Texas, Hoffman told Crusius: "You're an ignorant coward and you deserve to suffer in jail and then burn in hell. You are an evil parasite that is nothing without a weapon."
Bertha Benavides, who lost her husband, Arturo, after 34 years of marriage, told Crusius: “You left children without their parents, you left spouses without their spouses, and we still need them."
People in the court broke into applause at the words of one woman, Margaret Juarez, whose 90-year-old father died in the shooting.
Her mother was also at the store during the attack, and was left injured but alive.
Juarez pointed out how ironic it was that Crusius will never be free again, while they will continue to have their freedom.
“Swim in the waters of prison,” she said. “Now we’re going to enjoy the sunshine … We still have our freedom, in our country.”
Crusius did not speak during the hearing, and showed no reaction when the verdict was read. The judge in the case recommended that he serve his sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.
Emily Brown