EL PASO, Texas– Yolanda Tinajero stood up in court and walked over to the man who killed her brother. She wrapped her arms around him while he hunched over into her embrace.
"I feel in my heart to hug you very tight so you could feel my forgiveness, especially my loss," Tinajero said.
She had just offered her impact statement at the end of the case involving the man who in 2019 killed 23 people and injured dozens at a Walmart in what's considered one of the worst attacks on Hispanics in the U.S. in modern history.
Judge Sam Medrano allowed her to approach the gunman after she said it would bring her peace, comfort and healing.
Adriana Zandri, whose husband Ivan Feliberto Manzano was murdered during the attack, also hugged the gunman, bringing an end to one of the most painful moments of this largely Hispanic city that borders Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
On Monday, Patrick Crusius was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences after he pleaded guilty to capital murder and nearly two dozen aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges in state court.
The gunman drove more than 650 miles from his home in Allen, Texas, to this city and opened fire on shoppers at a Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019.
The Texas gunman targeted people he thought were Mexicans, according to police. Hours before the shooting, Crusius published an online screed saying his actions were a response to the "Hispanic invasion of Texas."
In 2023 a federal judge sentenced him to 90 consecutive life sentences, after he pleaded guilty to hate crimes and firearms violations.
No room for hate'
Yvonne Gonzalez lost her parents, Maribel Hernandez and Leonardo Campos Jr., during the attack. As Crusius was sentenced, she sat across the courtroom. She did not look at him during her impact statement, sometimes peering at her notes, but she had pointed words for him.
"It is not up to me to make you answer for your sins. I may never hear from you. But no one walks away from answering to God," Gonzalez said. "I have no more room for hate in my heart."
Crusius accepted a plea deal offered by the El Paso District Attorney James Montoya, in return for not pursuing the death penalty.
Montoya said a majority of the families of those killed and survivors asked him to bring this case to a close.
After reading the sentence, Judge Medrano said: "Your name and your hate will be forgotten." Medrano told the gunman he failed to divide the city.
"The community you tried to break has become a symbol of resilience, of love overcoming hate, of humanity enduring in the face of evil," he said. "This community will always remember those whose lives you stole, their names, their stories, their accomplishments, their lives will never fade."
Olivia Rodriguez, who survived the attack, had her statement read in Spanish and in English.
"Es un monstruo que debe pagar aquí en la Tierra. He is a monster who must pay here on Earth," her statement read.
The case came to a close after victims and relatives offered statements over two days. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office will now transfer custody of the gunman to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Crusius' attorney, Joe Spencer, said his client suffers from a mental disorder that makes it difficult for him to be able to separate reality from delusion.
He said it was not an excuse but his client became isolated and began listening more to online chatter about immigration and erroneous claims about "an invasion" of the United States.
Crusius did not offer any apology on Monday.
Instead, Spencer said: "We offer our deepest condolences."
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