On Saturday, August 3, a mass shooting occurred at an El Paso, Texas, mall, about five miles from the main border checkpoint with Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. A gunman shot and killed 22 people and injured dozens of others. Nine of the at least 22 who were hospitalized were in critical condition as of Monday morning. One of them is only four years old.
The suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, is in police custody. Investigators are pursuing criminal and civil rights hate crime investigations and seeking “domestic terrorism” charges against Crusius.
According to authorities, Crusius allegedly posted a document titled The Inconvenient Truth to several websites shortly before the shooting. The document is an anti-immigrant screed that denounces the growing Hispanic population in Texas, and cites that as the reason for the mass shooting. The document also expresses support for the shooter who opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, killing 51 people.
“In general,” wrote Crusius, “I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto. This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas. They are the instigators, not me. I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.”
Some American Hispanic leaders are saying that Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is at least partly to blame for the violence against immigrants, and for this incident.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, who represents San Antonio, and is chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said, “The President has put a target on the back of the Hispanic community for years now, and there’s a cost to that kind of dangerous and racially divisive rhetoric. …If you look at the shooter‘s manifesto, it’s consistent with the language that President Trump has used to describe Hispanic immigrants as being part of an invasion of the United States.”
It is almost as horrifying to hear a few of the various responses from Trump supporters who seem like ordinary, “harmless” citizens. While not exactly supporting the mass shooting themselves, some seem to make an excuse for it.
“People are angry,” said one. “They’re tired of people coming over our border and bringing crime and disease.” As if the border situation were worse than a mass shooting. As if it justified a mass shooting. As if it were even true.
El Paso shooting: Several killed as gunman opens fire in Texas Walmart
The Telegraph | [2019-08-04]
Death toll from El Paso mass shooting rises to 22
Fox News | [2019-08-05]
