TRAGEDY: The El Paso shooting on August 3, 2019, becomes one of many racially motivated shootings.
By Laila Menchaca, Staff Writer
A Walmart mass shooting took place in El Paso, Texas on Saturday, August 3rd, at 11:09 A.M. With 22 people dead and 24 injured, the Intelligencer category on NYMAG.com explains this mass shooting as “being officially treated as a domestic terrorist attack by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas and the FBI.” Currently facing probable charges for hate crime, 21 year old gunman Patrick Wood Crusius began his 10 hour drive to the border of El Paso, Texas and San Juarez, Mexico with the intent to target Hispanics.
Before his planned shooting, Crusius had written a detailed racist and xenophobic 4 page manifesto “detailing his white-nationalist and anti-immigrant views,” according to Intelligencer. Upon arrival, he opened fire with his legally purchased assault rifle in the Walmart parking lot and continued to walk into the store, where he shot his targets. Victim and witness to the shooting, 50 year old Chris Grant claims the gunman ignored black and white people, allowing them to escape. Although he had a chance to escape, Grant threw soda bottles at the gunman in an attempt to distract him. Having been shot two times near his rib cage, “I did what any good man would’ve done,” Grant told CNN. Police arrived six minutes after the attack was reported and Crusius surrendered. Crusius is being held at the El Paso County Detention Facility under suicide watch where officials supervise him every 30 minutes.
The victims were identified and a viral Instagram post shared the heroic story of Jordan and Andre Anchondo, a couple killed during the attack while protecting their two-month-old son. This couple unwillingly left behind their three young children. Antonio Basco held a funeral for his wife Margie Reckard, who was a victim of the attack. Many people “waited in triple-digit heat to attend Reckard’s memorial service and support a man they had never met,” according to National Public Radio. Basco and his wife had moved to El Paso, distancing themselves from family and friends, causing him to turn to social media worried only a few would attend the service. On Friday, August 16, 2019, at La Paz Faith Center, a line stretched for several blocks with strangers hoping to pay their respects. According to National Public Record, more than 500 flower arrangements were sent from around the world to the service, adorning the wife’s casket. “I think [the service] was a way of the community to mourn the whole situation,” owner of the Perches Funeral Home Salvador Perches says. From locals arriving at the service to pay their respects to the kind gesture of people worldwide mailing flower arrangements, the true strength and compassion the people share in such tragedies are unraveled.
Walmart shares its future intentions to reopen their store since the attack. Their plan is to reopen during the holidays with a memorial dedicated to the victims of the attack. Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove hopes that “re-opening the store will be another testament to the strength and resiliency” the community of El Paso possesses. The El Paso tragedy made a statement: that our neighbors, friends, and family will be present to provide the strength we need and the love we long for during our hardships. When a community is affected, we must join together as one and firmly grasp each other’s hands while moving forward.