Advertisement

20 dead, 26 wounded, lone suspect in custody after rampage at El Paso Walmart

EL PASO, Texas — Twenty people were shot to death and 26 were wounded after a lone gunman went on a shooting rampage Saturday morning in a packed Walmart store in this border city, authorities said.

The suspect, identified by two law enforcement sources as Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, surrendered to officers, police said. Allen is a suburb of Dallas, about 660 miles east of El Paso.

The first calls came in at 10:39 a.m. MDT. The first officer arrived six minutes later in what would become a massive response, according to El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.

Related Video: Shooting at Mississippi Walmart Leaves 2 Dead

Stay up on the latest: Everything we know about the victims, the suspect

With the shooting, a busy weekend shopping day turned into horror. The Walmart was "at capacity," and at a mall across the parking lot, 1,000 to 3,000 people were shopping, police Sgt. Robert Gomez said. Videos posted to social media show shoppers scrambling for cover, their hands raised.

The suspect had posted a "manifesto" and the shooting was being investigated as a hate crime, Allen said. He gave no details about the contents of the manifesto.

El Paso, situated at the U.S.-Mexico border, is about 83% Hispanic, according to 2018 Census estimates, and boasts a large population of immigrants. Mexico Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebard said in a tweet that at least six of the wounded are Mexican citizens.

Who is the suspect? What we know about the 21-year-old from Allen, Texas

The University Medical Center of El Paso received 13 victims, ranging in age from 2 to senior citizens, and one has died, the hospital said.

Del Sol Medical Center received 11 victims ages 35 to 82. Two are stable, nine are critical and three of those are in "a life threatening predicament," the hospital said.

Many people drove themselves or their loved ones to the hospital, Gomez said, adding to the confusion.

Blood donations were needed "urgently," police said on Twitter.

The FBI and other state and federal law enforcement agencies are assisting in the investigation.

Leslie Diaz, 25, started her workday at 7:45 a.m. at the Walmart, which is busy each day with customers from El Paso and Chihuahua. She said she was helping customers at the front of the store in the checkout when she heard multiple loud “pops” getting closer and louder.

She said she looked at her coworkers, grabbed some customers and led them out of the store as customers began running and screaming toward the exit.

Near her, Tabitha Estrada, 19, was at a GNC vitamin outlet at the front of the Walmart when she heard customers screaming to get away. She took the people she could into a locked room. Minutes later she could hear police say: “Come out with your hands up!”

An hour after hiding, Estrada reunited with her mother, Rebeca Rivas, 40. They hugged and held each other,

“Mija, you’re alive,” Rivas said.

"Texas grieves for the people of El Paso today. On a day that would have been a normal day for someone to leisurely go shopping turned into one of the most deadly days in the history of Texas," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a press conference.

"This is a tragedy we would have never ever thought would happen in El Paso," El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said.

President Donald Trump responded on Twitter, saying, "Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!"

Former U.S. representative. Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic candidate for president whose district included El Paso, was set to take part in a campaign event in Las Vegas when reports of the shooting came in.

“We have to find some reason for optimism and hope or else we can resign ourselves to a future where nearly 40,000 people a year will lose their lives to gun violence, and I cannot accept that,” O’Rourke said on stage in Las Vegas. He said he planned to return immediately to El Paso.

A family who was near Walmart during the shooting fled to a nearby Landry’s Seafood, hostess Sofia Cervantes told USA TODAY.

“They are in shock right now,” Cervantes said. “They were barely able to talk to us.”

The shooting comes just days after two people were shot and killed in a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, south of Memphis, and the same week three people were killed at a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

Contributing: Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY. Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter: @joeygarrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: El Paso shooting: Patrick Crusius suspected of killing 20 at Walmart