Gunman targets Hispanic shoppers in mass shooting at El Paso Walmart
Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, drives 660 miles to El Paso on August 3, 2019 and opens fire at a Walmart Supercenter, killing 23 people and wounding 22 others. Crusius uploads a manifesto to 8chan minutes before the attack titled "The Inconvenient Truth," stating: "This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas." The manifesto cites the white nationalist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory and explicitly mirrors language used by Trump and other Republican politicians in campaign rhetoric about immigration. Eight of the 23 victims are Mexican citizens; the majority are Latino. The shooting is classified as domestic terrorism and a federal hate crime. Crusius pleads guilty in February 2023 to 90 federal charges including 23 counts of hate crimes resulting in death. He is sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences in federal prison. Texas prosecutors separately pursue the death penalty. The phrase "Hispanic invasion" appears in Trump campaign communications and Republican political ads in the months surrounding the attack.