El Paso Mass Shooting: "He came to kill people because of their skin color" - Sheriff Claims

The sheriff of El Paso did not mince his words when he spoke of Saturday’s mass shooting that left 20 dead.

“This Anglo man came here to kill Hispanics.”

In a Facebook post, the sheriff, Richard Wiles, called the 21-year-old suspect a “racist” who came to the Texas border city to kill people because of “the color of their skin”.

While US politicians have engaged in predictable policy debates in the wake of two deadly massacres this weekend, residents of El Paso said they were not afraid to call the shooting a white supremacist hate crime and terrorist attack against Latinos.

“We see this as an act of racism toward all Hispanics,” 21-year-old Daisy Fuentes told the Guardian on Sunday. She and her family were gathered at a local hospital where both her grandparents were taken after they were shot in the Saturday morning Walmart attack that left at least 20 dead and two dozen more injured. “It was full of Hispanics in that Walmart. It’s just super sad.”

Residents across El Paso were reeling from the horrific violence, shaken by the news that the white suspect, Patrick Crusius, allegedly published an anti-immigrant, racist “manifesto” before opening fire in a crowded store. The document reportedly warned of the “Hispanic invasion of Texas”, and Crusius is facing murder charges and a federal hate crime investigation.