A self-proclaimed white nationalist who carried out a deadly mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms on federal hate crimes charges. Patrick Crusius, the gunman, opened fire on August 3, 2019, killing 23 people and injuring 22 others, including an infant. The attack, one of the deadliest on Latinos in U.S. history, prompted an emotional hearing in federal court where relatives of the victims confronted Crusius.

During the two-day hearing, family members of the victims expressed their grief and anger, calling Crusius a coward. Many had hoped for a death sentence, but the federal sentencing followed a plea agreement in February that recommended life imprisonment in exchange for pleading guilty to hate crimes and weapons charges. Texas prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty when Crusius is tried on murder charges in state court.

The district attorney in El Paso, Bill Hicks, stated that he owed it to the grieving families to bring state capital murder charges. Hicks expects Crusius to be transferred to state custody by October or November for the murder trial, although no date has been set. After the sentencing, relatives of the victims consoled each other, while Crusius showed no emotion as he was escorted out of the courtroom.

Crusius’s defense lawyer, Joe Spencer, argued that his client suffered from severe mental illness at the time of the shooting. He claimed that Crusius had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which caused him to have violent thoughts and hallucinations. Spencer described Crusius’s actions as a result of his “broken brain centered in delusions.”

However, one of the prosecutors, Ian Martinez Hanna, rejected the defense’s argument, stating that Crusius was motivated by an ideology of hatred. Martinez Hanna emphasized that Crusius had planned the attack well in advance, purchasing a rifle six weeks prior and driving 10 hours to a location where he knew he would find a large number of Hispanic people. He asserted that Crusius wanted to “eliminate a class of people” and was “a danger to all of us.”

The crime shook the community of El Paso, known as an Ellis Island of the Southwest due to its history as a destination for migrants from around the world. The city has a quarter of its population comprised of immigrants. The sentencing of Crusius is a rare legal proceeding against a mass shooter, as many such attacks end with the gunmen dying in confrontations with the police or taking their own lives.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland commended the Justice Department’s commitment to combating hate crimes, stating that no one in the country should live in fear of hate-fueled violence. The case has brought attention to the ongoing issue of white nationalism and its impact on communities.