El Paso Walmart shooter ordered to pay $5 million to massacre victims
Aaron MartinezEL PASO, Texas — An admitted white supremacist who gunned down 23 people and injured 22 others in a hate-fueled rampage at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 has been ordered to pay more than $5.5 million to the victims and their families, according to federal court documents filed Monday.
After opening fire at the busy grocery store with a semi-automatic assault rifle, Patrick Crusius surrendered to a Texas trooper, avoiding a deadly confrontation with police officers. He pleaded guilty in February to 90 federal charges and was sentenced in July to 90 consecutive life sentences.
The court documents filed Monday don't say how many people asked to be paid. The restitution ordered is for the financial losses suffered by the victims and their families. The official restitution amount of $5,557,005.55 was agreed on by both defense attorneys and federal prosecutors in a joint motion filed by both sides states. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama approved the motion.
The order, signed today, does not say when, and more importantly, if the victims and their families will be paid. It's unlikely the gunman has money or assets equaling $5 million.
Crusius has been relying on publicly-funded attorneys in federal and state cases stemming from massacre on Aug. 3, 2019. He went to El Paso to target Hispanics and Mexican immigrants.
The restitution ends the federal case against the gunman.
Guaderrama, who presided over the federal trial, ordered the gunman to serve his federal sentence at the ADX Florence supermax federal prison near Florence, Colorado.
However, the gunman remains in the Downtown El Paso County Jail in state custody as he awaits trial in the state's case. Crusius is facing one count of capital murder of multiple persons and 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in state court. A trial date could be set soon for that case.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @AMartinezEPT.
