TEXAS: The man who killed 20 people and injured 26 others was charged with a single capital murder charge.
The man killed 20 people and wounding more than two dozen others at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, in a mass shooting on Sunday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Saturday’s rampage in the heavily Hispanic city appeared to be a hate crime, and police cited a manifesto they attributed to the suspect as evidence that the bloodshed was racially motivated.
The County of El Paso’s state court has a “pre-file case” listed for “State of Texas vs Patrick Crusius” that shows a single charge of capital murder against Mr Crusius, a 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas.
The single charge is likely a legal place holder, to keep Crusius in custody until further charges can be filed against him for each of the dead and the wounded.
The records also show that an application for appointment of counsel was filed in the case on Sunday.
It was unclear if Mr Crusius had a lawyer or when a bond hearing or other court appearances would occur.
A state prosecutor said prosecutors would seek the death penalty against Mr Crusius if he was found guilty.
The FBI said in a statement on Sunday the attack “underscores the continued threat posed by domestic violent extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes”.
The agency said it remains concerned that more US-based extremists could become inspired by these and previous high-profile attacks to engage in similar acts of violence.
The US attorney for the western district of Texas, John Bash, said federal authorities were treating the El Paso massacre as a case of domestic terrorism.
“We’re going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is to deliver swift and certain justice,” he said.
He said the attack appeared “to be designed to intimidate a civilian population, to say the least”.
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