El Paso Shooter Was a Trump Worshiper

The shooting occurred in a popular commercial district with scores of restaurants and stores that are often crowded on the weekends. (photo: Jorge Salgado/Reuters)

By Brett Barrouquere and Hatewatch Staff, Southern Poverty Law Center

04 August 19
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A Twitter account bearing the suspect’s name contains liked tweets that include a “BuildTheWall” hashtag, a photo using guns to spell out “Trump,” and posts from Paul Joseph Watson, a far-right Youtuber who works with Alex Jones at InfoWars.

dditionally, police in west Texas are looking into whether the suspect posted an anti-immigrant “manifesto” online before the shooting. 

NBC News identified the suspect as Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas, citing unspecified police sources.

A Twitter account bearing the suspect’s name contains liked tweets that include a “BuildTheWall” hashtag, a photo using guns to spell out “Trump,” and posts from Paul Joseph Watson, a far-right Youtuber who works with Alex Jones at InfoWars.

Authorities are examining a four-page document that several media outlets are calling a manifesto.  Authorities are trying to determine the document’s authenticity and whether there are ties to the suspect.

The document mentions the suspect in the Christchurch, New Zealand mass shooting at two mosques that left 51 people dead in March. The suspect in that shooting has pleaded not guilty.

The manifesto allegedly linked to the El Paso shooting suspect contains white nationalist talking points on “ethnic displacement" and "race mixing" and refers to immigrants to the United States as "invaders."

It also makes brief mention of using a WASR-10 Kalashnikov pattern rifle, which is consistent with the security camera footage that shows the alleged shooter shouldering an AK-47 rifle.

The shooting took place just after 11 a.m. local time at a store in El Paso as parents and children took advantage of a tax-free shopping day before school begins. El Paso, which is almost 80% Hispanic, is just 12 miles from the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez.

Police have not yet issued a statement on the veracity of the alleged manifesto or its relationship to the suspect.

The shooting took place in the city of 840,000 just across the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The U.S.-Mexico border has been a big issue on the far right, with talk of “invaders” from predominantly Spanish-speaking countries crossing into the United States.