(Trends Wide) — This Wednesday was an emotional day in a federal courthouse in El Paso, Texas, when, one by one, the families of the dozens of victims of the August 2019 Walmart shooting spoke directly with the man accused of murdering 23 people and leaving wounding 22 others in what is considered one of the deadliest attacks against Latinos in modern US history.
“I hope that one day God finds the heart to forgive you for what you have done,” said Raúl Loya before breaking down in tears. Loya is a relative of one of the victims.
For about two hours, the sons, widows, brothers and daughters, some in tears, used words like “coward,” “monster,” “murderer,” “enemy,” “parasite” and “bastard” to describe Patrick Crusius, who committed the massacre at age 21, and was the man whose actions changed their lives forever.
The suspect in the deadly shootings at the shopping complex was identified as Patrick Crusius,
Crusius, who was shackled hand and foot, did not show any emotion during Wednesday’s proceedings, only nodding and at times looking nervous. The Walmart shooter pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges, including hate crimes, for what the judge described as an intentional act targeting victims based on their national origin or ethnicity.
A common thread between the statements is trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many of the victims still battle to this day as a result of the shooting.
“I still remember everything so clearly, although I have tried to erase it from my memory,” recounted a teenage soccer player identified in court as GA.
“You killed my father in such a cowardly way,” said Thomas Hoffmann. “He wasn’t a racist like you.”
Hoffmann lost his father, Alexander Hoffmann, during the massacre. Alexander Hoffman was an engineer who immigrated to Mexico from Germany in the 1980s and enjoyed listening to The Beatles and watching James Bond movies, his daughter Elis said in a statement through an attorney. She described his father as a “gentle giant with a big heart.”
The Hoffmanns explained that on the day of the shooting they did not believe their father was a victim because he was scheduled to fly to Germany.
“You are an ignorant coward and you deserve to suffer in jail and then burn in hell,” Thomas Hoffmann said. “You are an evil parasite who is nothing without a weapon.”
Hoffman held up a photo of his father and looked directly at Crusius and said, “Look at him. Look at it”.
It was not clear if Crusius looked at the photo, but he could be seen swallowing as Hoffman said, “You can see it.”
In all, 13 victims spoke in person or through a representative, including a minor who wore an “El Paso Strong” T-shirt and had trouble speaking between sobs as she described the horror she survived inside the Walmart.
“He started shooting,” the girl said between sobs. “I prayed to God.”
“I used to be a happy and normal teenager, until a coward decided to use violence against innocents,” she ended her statement by saying. “I’m not happy like before.”
Twice during the hearing, victims who were only feet from Crusius interrupted his comments to admonish him for rolling his eyes.
Raymond Attaguile, whose brother-in-law David Johnson was killed while shopping with his granddaughter on his way home from school, looked at Crusius and said: “You can roll your eyes if you want, I don’t mind.”
And the granddaughter, whose mother says Johnson saved her life during the shooting, said: “You can roll your eyes, you can smile, you can smile…” before continuing her emotional account of the events of August.
Both times, Crusius shook his head, apparently rejecting the facts.
A statement read by lawyers on behalf of Alfredo Hernández, the brother of victim Maribel Loya Hernández, also referenced Crusius’s smirk in court, noting a pattern of him saying more with body language than words.
Johnson’s granddaughter, referred to in court as KM because she is a minor, was accompanied during her statement by a therapy dog, brought into the courtroom to comfort the victims.
Johnson’s daughter, Stephanie Melendez, also addressed Crusius in court on Wednesday.
I want you to remember my voice. I speak for all the daughters who lost their parents,” Meléndez said. “In your act of hate, you stole a good man from this world… he will be remembered but you will not.”
(Trends Wide) — This Wednesday was an emotional day in a federal courthouse in El Paso, Texas, when, one by one, the families of the dozens of victims of the August 2019 Walmart shooting spoke directly with the man accused of murdering 23 people and leaving wounding 22 others in what is considered one of the deadliest attacks against Latinos in modern US history.
“I hope that one day God finds the heart to forgive you for what you have done,” said Raúl Loya before breaking down in tears. Loya is a relative of one of the victims.
For about two hours, the sons, widows, brothers and daughters, some in tears, used words like “coward,” “monster,” “murderer,” “enemy,” “parasite” and “bastard” to describe Patrick Crusius, who committed the massacre at age 21, and was the man whose actions changed their lives forever.
The suspect in the deadly shootings at the shopping complex was identified as Patrick Crusius,
Crusius, who was shackled hand and foot, did not show any emotion during Wednesday’s proceedings, only nodding and at times looking nervous. The Walmart shooter pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges, including hate crimes, for what the judge described as an intentional act targeting victims based on their national origin or ethnicity.
A common thread between the statements is trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many of the victims still battle to this day as a result of the shooting.
“I still remember everything so clearly, although I have tried to erase it from my memory,” recounted a teenage soccer player identified in court as GA.
“You killed my father in such a cowardly way,” said Thomas Hoffmann. “He wasn’t a racist like you.”
Hoffmann lost his father, Alexander Hoffmann, during the massacre. Alexander Hoffman was an engineer who immigrated to Mexico from Germany in the 1980s and enjoyed listening to The Beatles and watching James Bond movies, his daughter Elis said in a statement through an attorney. She described his father as a “gentle giant with a big heart.”
The Hoffmanns explained that on the day of the shooting they did not believe their father was a victim because he was scheduled to fly to Germany.
“You are an ignorant coward and you deserve to suffer in jail and then burn in hell,” Thomas Hoffmann said. “You are an evil parasite who is nothing without a weapon.”
Hoffman held up a photo of his father and looked directly at Crusius and said, “Look at him. Look at it”.
It was not clear if Crusius looked at the photo, but he could be seen swallowing as Hoffman said, “You can see it.”
In all, 13 victims spoke in person or through a representative, including a minor who wore an “El Paso Strong” T-shirt and had trouble speaking between sobs as she described the horror she survived inside the Walmart.
“He started shooting,” the girl said between sobs. “I prayed to God.”
“I used to be a happy and normal teenager, until a coward decided to use violence against innocents,” she ended her statement by saying. “I’m not happy like before.”
Twice during the hearing, victims who were only feet from Crusius interrupted his comments to admonish him for rolling his eyes.
Raymond Attaguile, whose brother-in-law David Johnson was killed while shopping with his granddaughter on his way home from school, looked at Crusius and said: “You can roll your eyes if you want, I don’t mind.”
And the granddaughter, whose mother says Johnson saved her life during the shooting, said: “You can roll your eyes, you can smile, you can smile…” before continuing her emotional account of the events of August.
Both times, Crusius shook his head, apparently rejecting the facts.
A statement read by lawyers on behalf of Alfredo Hernández, the brother of victim Maribel Loya Hernández, also referenced Crusius’s smirk in court, noting a pattern of him saying more with body language than words.
Johnson’s granddaughter, referred to in court as KM because she is a minor, was accompanied during her statement by a therapy dog, brought into the courtroom to comfort the victims.
Johnson’s daughter, Stephanie Melendez, also addressed Crusius in court on Wednesday.
I want you to remember my voice. I speak for all the daughters who lost their parents,” Meléndez said. “In your act of hate, you stole a good man from this world… he will be remembered but you will not.”