Suspect responsible for deadly shooting at Walmart in El Paso identified
EL PASO, Texas - The suspect who opened fire killing over a dozen people inside a Walmart in El Paso has been identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius.
A police official says he believes most of the El Paso attack victims were shot at a Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall.
Sgt. Robert Gomez said investigators believe he is the only gunman involved and that he was taken into custody. A motive for the attack was not released, but police say the gunman used some type of rifle.
Sgt. Gomez said the store was packed with as many as 3,000 people during the busy back-to-school shopping season.
El Paso hospitals say they are treating 22 victims, not including a patient who died after arriving at one of the hospitals.
"This is unprecedented in El Paso," said Gomez, who added that many of the injured had life-threatening injuries.
Police responded in the midmorning to an active shooter scene at the mall, near Interstate 10 on the east side of the city, and were advising people to stay away from the area and to look for missing family members at a school being used as a reunification area.
The mass shooting in El Paso came less than a week after a gunman opened fire on a California food festival. Santino William Legan, 19, killed three people and injured 13 others last Sunday at the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ryan Mielke, a spokesman for University Medical Center of El Paso, said 12 people were brought to the hospital with injuries, including one that died. Two of the injured were children who were being transferred to El Paso Children's Hospital, he said. He declined to provide additional details on the victims.
Eleven other victims were being treated at Del Sol Medical Center, according to hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero. He said those victims ages ranged from 35 to 82.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting "a heinous and senseless act of violence" and said the state had deployed a number of law enforcement officers to the city.
The Associated Press contributed to this report