WINK News

Watch Now

20 killed, dozens injured in El Paso shooting

Author: CBS News
Published: Updated:
Map shows the context of the area. (Credit: CBS News via Google Earth)
Map shows the context of the area. (Credit: CBS News via Google Earth)

What we know:

  • 20 people killed and dozens injured in shooting near shopping mall in El Paso
  • White male suspect identified as Patrick Crusius taken into custody without incident
  • At least 22 people hospitalized; 9 in critical but stable condition; one patient is 4 months old

Twenty people were killed and 26 others were wounded after a gunman went on a rampage Saturday at a Walmart in the Texas border town of El Paso, police said. A 21-year-old man was taken into custody after police responded within six minutes to a report of an active shooter at the Cielo Vista Mall.

The suspect, who was captured on surveillance video entering the Walmart, has been identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, CBS News has confirmed. Sergeant Robert Gomez, a police spokesman, said the suspect was taken into custody “without incident” and there was no longer danger to the public.

Police Chief Greg Allen referenced a document allegedly left behind by the suspect. He said the shooting may have a “nexus” to a hate crime but declined to elaborate.

Law enforcement sources tell CBS News this is a surveillance video image of the gunman walking into the Walmart. Credit: Via CBS News.

Gomez said he thinks most of the victims were shot at a Walmart in the shopping complex. He said the store was “at capacity” as many customers were there to buy back-to-school supplies.

Earlier, El Paso police tweeted that they had received reports of “multiple shooters” but police later said they did not believe there was more than one gunman. Police also said reports of a shooting at another location were “false.”

University of Medical Center of El Paso told CBS News it had also received 11 shooting victims, including one who died. They said a 4-month-old child was among the patients it was treating. Hospital spokesman Ryan Mielke said all of the victims suffered traumatic injuries in Saturday’s attack. He declined to provide additional details about the victims, including the one who died. Mielke said two children, ages 2 and 9, were stabilized at the medical center before being transferred to the neighboring El Paso Children’s Hospital.


Del Sol Medical Center told CBS News it was treating 11 patients from the shooting. It said nine were in critical but stable condition, and two were stable. The patients ranged in age from 35 to 82.

University of Medical Center of El Paso told CBS News it had also received 11 shooting victims, including one deceased person. They said a 4-month-old child was among the patients it was treating.

ATF agents are en route to assist the El Paso police at the scene of the shooting, CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.

Witness Ray Holgin told CBS News that he was about to go into the Walmart when he heard at least 10 gunshots. He said he thought he saw at least two people with guns. Holgin told CBS News that he saw at least one person, an elderly lady, fall to the ground, but he’s not sure if she was shot.

Details of the apparent shooting were not immediately clear but many people took to social media to report the shooting.

https://twitter.com/jaquelynavy/status/1157698653907296261

Walmart released a statement, saying it was working with law enforcement and “praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.”

Leaders tweet reactions to shooting 


Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the shooting on social media.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso, said on Twitter she was “heartbroken” by the incident and was monitoring the situation.

Presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke appeared a bit shaken as he appeared at a candidate forum in Las Vegas on Saturday shortly after news of the shooting in his hometown was reported.

O’Rourke said he had called his wife before taking the stage and said the shooting shatters “any illusion that we have that progress is inevitable” on tackling gun violence.

The Democrat said he’d heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying we need to “keep that (expletive) on the battlefield and do not bring it into our communities.”

“We have to find some reason for optimism and hope or else we consign ourselves to a future where nearly 40,000 people are year will lose their lives to gun violence and I cannot accept that,” O’Rourke said.

Copyright ©2023 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.