20 dead, two dozen hurt when gunman opens fire at El Paso Walmart crowded with shoppers
Twenty people were killed and more than two dozen injured when a gunman turned a routine back-to-school shopping day in the border city of El Paso into “one of the most deadly days in the history of Texas,” Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday night.
A single shooter was responsible for the attack at a Walmart in east El Paso and was taken into custody “without incident,” El Paso police Sgt. Robert Gomez said.
The suspect is a 21-year-old man from Allen, a city north of Dallas, El Paso police chief Greg Allen said.
Allen said police are looking at a manifesto reportedly from the suspect that points toward a hate crime.
Law officers were still interviewing the suspect Saturday evening, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told CNN.
Gomez said as many as 3,000 people might have been in the Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall when the shooting broke out. Allen said the shooting began at 10:39 a.m. and that police arrived within six minutes.
He said 26 people were injured.
Videos taken inside the mall that have circulated on social media show people frantically running away and officers shouting “hands up!”
President Trump was briefed on the shooting and the White House is monitoring the situation, White House Deputy Press Secretary Steven Groves said in a statement.
Abbott said in a statement that “the El Paso community was struck by a heinous and senseless act of violence.”
“Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific shooting and to the entire community in this time of loss,” he said. “While no words can provide the solace needed for those impacted by this event, I ask that all Texans join Cecilia and me in offering our prayers for the victims and their families.”
He said the state and the Department of Public Safety are assisting El Paso police as they conduct their investigation. The state has deployed troopers, special agents, Texas Rangers, tactical teams and aircraft to the scene of the active shooter situation.
Glendon Oakly, a witness to the shooting, said on CNN that he had heard gunshots while inside a Foot Locker and the cage came down outside the store. He picked up multiple children as he fled the store, he said.
Beto O’Rourke was headed back to his hometown from the campaign trail.
El Paso is a West Texas city of about 680,000.
The incident occurred less than a week after three people, including two children, were killed in a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival near San Jose, Calif.
The deadliest mass shooting in Texas occurred in November 2017, when a 26-year-old Texas man killed 26 at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.
This story was originally published August 3, 2019 at 2:21 PM with the headline "20 dead, two dozen hurt when gunman opens fire at El Paso Walmart crowded with shoppers."