Relatives of Walmart shooting victims come face to face with gunman in El Paso courtroom

Nearly four years after a normal Saturday morning in El Paso turned into one of the deadliest mass shootings in Texas history, the admitted gunman and white supremacist responsible for the carnage will finally learn his fate.

A federal judge is scheduled this week to hand down the federal sentence for Patrick Crusius, 24, who in 2019 drove from North Texas to El Paso to target and kill Hispanics, an act authorities said was designed to ward off what Crusius called an “invasion” of the state by immigrants.

In all, 22 people were injured and 23 killed in his August 3 attack on a Walmart store popular with Texas and Mexicans alike, several of whom were shopping for back-to-school supplies when the shooting began.

The sentencing hearing began Wednesday morning in U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama’s chambers with a discussion on the government’s presentence report. That was followed by victims’ statements, which will continue throughout the week.