Patrick Crusius, the Texas man who allegedly shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019, pleaded guilty to 90 hate crimes and firearms charges in federal court Wednesday.
The guilty plea comes after federal prosecutors notified the court last month that they would not apply the death penalty in the case.
Crusius, 24, drove from his home in Dallas to the border city of El Paso and opened fire at a Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019, in what prosecutors described as a racist attack.
FILE PHOTO: Walmart shooting suspect Patrick Crusius appears in court in El Paso, Texas. (Briana Sanchez / El Paso Times via AP, Pool, File)
He had posted a manifesto online that said the shooting was “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” and told police after turning himself in that he was targeting Mexicans, according to an arrest warrant.
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His lawyers wrote in court documents that Crusius “has been diagnosed with lifelong severe neurological and mental disabilities,” which they say should be a “red flag” for prosecutors considering the death penalty.
Shooting suspect Patrick Crusius, charged with capital murder in a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, is seen in this mugshot released from El Paso, Texas, USA, on August 5, 2019. (El Paso Police Department/Handout via Reuters)
Crusius has pleaded not guilty to separate state capital murder charges in Texas, where he could still face the death penalty if convicted.
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Former El Paso County District Attorney Yvonne Rosale resigned last November amid criticism that her office was holding up Crusius’s prosecution.
People hug next to a makeshift memorial outside the Cielo Vista Mall Wal-Mart where a shooting killed 23 people in El Paso, Texas. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)
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Crusius will be sentenced later this year and faces life in prison for each of the 90 federal charges to which he pleaded guilty Wednesday.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
