The man who slaughtered 23 people in a hate-inspired mass shooting in 2019 left an El Paso courtroom for the final time Tuesday, destined to serve his life imprisoned far away from the city he terrorized but did not vanquish.
“Sheriff, please escort him out of our courtroom,” 409th District Judge Sam Medrano told El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte, triggering a process that gives the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 45 days to take the gunman to a state penitentiary in East or Central Texas.
That brought to a close two days of hearings that included a guilty plea and multiple life sentences for Patrick Crusius, 26, of Allen, Texas, who used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 23 people and wound 22 others at the Cielo Vista Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019.
Over those two days, 35 people gave victim impact statements that told of how their lives were permanently altered by a man who drove more than 600 miles to open fire on a store filled with hundreds of Saturday shoppers – all in an effort to stop what he called “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” that was part of a “great replacement” of white people.
Most of those speaking Monday and Tuesday were family members of those killed on that hot August morning. Several were wounded and survived. One was uninjured but recalled how she felt when she saw the gunman as she hid.
Common themes emerged in the victim impact statement. People told the stories of the good their loved ones had done on Earth. Many of them expressed pride in the Hispanic and Mexican culture targeted by the gunman. Some vented their anger at Crusius. Some offered words of forgiveness. Two hugged him.
“Our lives will never be the same. We see Andre and Jordan inside of Paul, and that is who they left behind as their greatest gift to us,” said Misty Jamrowski, whose daughter Jordan Anchondo and son-in-law Andre Anchondo were killed while they were at a bank inside the Walmart with their infant son Paul.
Francisco Rodriguez, whose 15-year-old son Javier Amir Rodriguez was the youngest victim of the massacre, demanded the gunman’s attention in court Tuesday.
“Look at me. Look at my son,” he said. “You have the balls to come down here and do what you wanted to do, right? Look at him. I’m only asking you two minutes. Two minutes of your time. You had over 10 hours to think about what you were going to do. Now, you can’t give me two minutes?
“Thanks to you, now I go to the cemetery with my family on my son’s birthday. We take a cake, some ice cream. We’re down there singing ‘Happy Birthday.’ Then we eat cake and ice cream. Thanks to you.”
Several of those who spoke Monday and Tuesday addressed the racist ideology that the gunman cited as his motivation. Many of the anti-immigration theories he espoused in his manifesto he published online just before the shooting are repeated regularly by right-wing media and political figures, including President Donald Trump.
“Fuck you, Patrick Crusius, and fuck Donald J. Trump, because I know that he’s your mentor,” said Martha Santiesteban, whose 90-year-old father, Luis Juarez Sr., was killed in the attack.
Crusius’ attorney, Joe Spencer, has said his client thought he was acting at the direction of Trump in his attack.
Her sister, Margaret Ann Juarez, devoted much of her impact statement to dissecting the white supremacist beliefs that motivated the gunman. She dismissed defense claims that mental illness drove Crusius’ actions.
“So this senseless act of violence is more a result of a much more deadly illness called racism. You see, many of these young white men with this illness have been socialized to think that they deserve more than people of color or immigrants. That this country belongs only to them, even though their ancestors actually stole native lands,” Juarez said.
“So these racist, entitled young men can’t stand it when they have to compete or share power, especially if it means competing with those who are different from them and those who may also be more intelligent than them.”
As Crusius prepares to serve the remainder of his life in prison, Juarez said a different fate awaits others in the courtroom, mostly Hispanics.
“So now, we, all these lovely people, are going to go out in that lovely day and enjoy the fuck out of our freedom. We’re going to enjoy the hell out of our freedom in our country.”
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