El Paso mass killer offered plea deal, could avoid execution

El Paso District Attorney James Montoya on Tuesday said he would no longer seek the death penalty for a gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in August 2019. Montoya said he recently spoke with the families of the victims and survivors in the shooting to see how they felt about the case and the pending trial. While some family members wanted to continue to seek the death penalty, the majority wanted the case over as quickly as possible after nearly six years of legal proceedings.

Montoya took office in January. He told local media that believes in capital punishment and that the shooter deserves the punishment, but he will respect the wishes of families who want the case finished. The trial was not scheduled to begin until January 2026 and Montoya said that even that start date was unrealistic given the challenge of finding an impartial jury in El Paso. The shooter is expected to enter a guilty plea next month. He would likely be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Montoya said at a news conference. The shooter already faces life in prison after pleading guilty to federal hate crime charges in 2023.

What is the background of the case? The then-21-year-old shooter on Aug. 3, 2019, drove from his home near Dallas to the Cielo Vista Walmart in El Paso. He opened fire, killing 23 people and wounding 22 others on a busy back-to-school shopping weekend. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 90 and included American citizens, one German citizen, and Mexican citizens who crossed the nearby border. The gunman was a self-described white nationalist who targeted the store because of the area’s large Hispanic population, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

What other charges does the gunman face? A federal judge in July 2023 sentenced the shooter to 90 consecutive life sentences after he pleaded guilty to committing hate crimes and using a firearm to commit violence. He also confessed to writing a racist manifesto he posted online just before the attack. The DOJ also did not pursue the death penalty.

Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report about a memorial held in El Paso days after the shooting.