Texas Walmart shooter agrees to pay $5 million to families over 2019 racist attack
A white Texas gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in 2019 after ranting about Latinos taking over the government and economy has agreed to pay more than $5 million to victims of the racist attack, according to an order signed by a judge Monday.
Patrick Crusius was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms in July after pleading guilty to federal hate crime charges following one of the nation’s worst mass killings. Court records show his attorneys and the Justice Department reached an agreement over the restitution amount, which was then approved by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama.
There is no indication Crusius, 25, has significant assets. He was 21 years old and had dropped out of community college when police say he drove more than 700 miles from his home near Dallas to target Latinos with an AK-style rifle inside and outside the store. Moments before the attack began, Crusius posted a racist screed online that warned of a Latino “invasion” of Texas.
He once worked at a movie theater, a job that his attorneys have said Crusius was forced to leave because he was having violent thoughts.
Nearly four years ago, Patrick Crusius killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso in a racist attack that targeted Latino shoppers.
Crusius pleaded guilty in February after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. But Texas prosecutors have said they will try to put Crusius on death row when he stands trial in state court. That trial date has not yet been set.
Under the agreement between the gunman and the government, Crusius will pay $5,557,005.55, according to court filings.
Joe Spencer, an attorney for Crusius, and a spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately return messages Monday.
In January, the Justice Department proposed changes to how it runs federal prisoners’ deposit accounts in an effort to ensure victims are paid restitution, including from some high-profile inmates with large balances. The move came as the Justice Department faced increased scrutiny after revelations that several high-profile inmates kept large sums of money in their prison accounts but made only minimal payments to their victims.
There is a rise in deadly racist shootings and hate crimes in the U.S., experts say. What to know about recent racist and antisemitic attacks.
The 2019 attack was the deadliest of a dozen mass shootings in the U.S. linked to hate crimes since 2006, according to a database compiled by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
Before the shooting, Crusius had appeared consumed by the nation’s immigration debate, tweeting #BuildtheWall and other social media posts that praised then-President Trump’s hard-line border policies.
Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty earlier this year to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges in the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso.
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