Gunman in racist attack at a Texas Walmart pleads guilty and families confront him in court

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Maribel Hernandez and her husband, Leonardo Campos, were shopping at a Walmart in a Texas border city in 2019 when a gunman who wanted to stop what he believed was a Hispanic invasion opened fire, killing them and 21 others.

On Monday, Hernandez's daughter, Yvonne Loya Gonzalez, spoke directly to the gunman, Patrick Crusius, after he pleaded guilty to capital murder in the El Paso massacre: “Their absence in my life has left a deep void in my heart."

The statements by victims' relatives and survivors that began Monday afternoon could continue through Wednesday. Some, including Gonzalez, told Crusius he is forgiven.

“I have no more room for hate in my heart,” Gonzalez said.

Crusius, a white 26-year-old community college dropout, showed little emotion, kept his head up and eyes trained ahead on those who spoke. Many expressed hope he would reflect on his actions in prison.

Crusius, who wore a striped jumpsuit, shackles and a protective vest during the hearing, did not address the families when he accepted a plea deal, which he made after local prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the table. He had already been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms on federal hate crime charges.

Liliana Munoz of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, said she had been shopping for snacks to resell across the border when Crusius opened fire, forever changing her life physically, economically and emotionally.

In her statement, which was read by someone sitting beside her in court, she said she used to be a “happy, dancing person,” but now she is afraid every morning when she awakes. She now uses a cane to walk and wears a leg brace to keep her left foot from dragging.

“It left me sad, bitter,” said the 41-year-old mother.

But she also granted Crusius forgiveness “because what would be the point of forgiving what was easy to forgive?”

Crusius drove more than 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) from his home near Dallas to carry out the shooting on Aug. 3, 2019.

"You came to inflict terror, to take innocent lives and to shatter a community that had done nothing but stand for kindness, unity and love. You slaughtered fathers, mothers, sons and daughters,” State District Judge Sam Medrano said.

“Now as you begin the rest of your life locked away, remember this: your mission failed,” he continued. “You did not divide this city, you strengthened it. You did not silence its voice, you made it louder. You did not instill fear, you inspired unity. El Paso rose, stronger and braver.”

Medrano sentenced Crusius to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

While one of his lawyers, Joe Spencer, told the court, "We offer our deepest condolences,” Crusius did not explicitly apologize Monday for his actions.

Crusius also pleaded guilty Monday to 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which were enhanced with violence and prejudice findings, in relation to the 22 people who were injured but survived the shooting. He was sentenced to 22 additional life sentences on those counts.

“Patrick will leave prison only in a coffin on God’s time,” Spencer said.

In a posting to an online message board just before the massacre, Crusius said the shooting was “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He said Hispanics would take over the government and economy.

Crusius appears to have been consumed by the immigration debate, posting online in support of building a border wall and praising the hard-line border policies of President Donald Trump, who was in his first term at the time. After the shooting, Crusius told officers he had targeted Mexicans.

“He latched onto hateful rhetoric, particularly the dangerous and false narratives surrounding immigration being repeated in political discourse,” Spencer said.

The attorney said Crusius was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which can be marked by hallucinations, delusions and mood swings. “His thinking became increasingly divorced from reality,” he said.

“We share this not as an excuse, but as part of the explanation for the inexplicable,” he said.

The people who were killed at Walmart ranged in age from a 15-year-old high school athlete to elderly grandparents. They included immigrants, a retired city bus driver, a teacher, tradesmen including a former iron worker, and several Mexican nationals who had crossed the U.S. border on routine shopping trips.

Adriana Zandri’s husband, Ivan Manzano, was killed after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico on a shopping run. She lamented that her husband lost the chance to teach his son to drive and shave or to give away his daughter’s hand in marriage.

“When all this happened, my daughter was 5 and my son was 9,” she said in her statement to the court. “The only thing that I wanted was for them to not grow up with hatred in their hearts.”

Stengle contributed from Dallas.

Family members leave the court after a hearing for Patrick Crusius at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in El Paso, Texas, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

A person reacts during a hearing for Patrick Crusius at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue in El Paso, Texas, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

El Paso District Attorney James Montoya walks outside the 409th District Court after Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in the death of 23 people in the Aug. 3. 2019 Walmart Mass shooting, Monday, April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

El Paso District Attorney James Montoya talks to media outside the 409th District Court after Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in the death of 23 people in the Aug. 3. 2019 Walmart Mass shooting, Monday, April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

Families embrace as they leave the 409th District Court after Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in the death of 23 people in the Aug. 3. 2019 Walmart Mass shooting, Monday, April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

Families embrace as they leave the 409th District Court after Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in the death of 23 people in the Aug. 3. 2019 Walmart Mass shooting, Monday, April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

A heavy security presence is seen outside the El Paso County Court House on the day Patrick Crusius is set to plea guilty to the Aug. 3. 2019 Walmart Mass shooting that left 23 dead, Monday, April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

El Paso District Attorney James Montoya talks to media outside the 409th District Court after Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in the death of 23 people in the Aug. 3. 2019 Walmart Mass shooting, Monday, April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

Judge Sam Medrano speaks during a hearing for Patrick Crusius, the Walmart mass shooter, in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Ruben R. Ramirez/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius is sentence to life in prison at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius stands up to listen to the charges from Judge Sam Medrano in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue during his sentencing in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

Family members await the start of the sentencing for Patrick Crusius, the Walmart mass shooter, at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue in El Paso, Texas, on April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius stands up to listen to the charges from Judge Sam Medrano in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue during his sentencing in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius enters the Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue for his sentencing in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius attends a sentencing hearing with Judge Sam Medrano in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue during in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Ruben R. Ramirez/Pool Photo via AP)

A person reacts during a hearing for Patrick Crusius, the Walmart mass shooter, in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Ruben R. Ramirez/Pool Photo via AP)

A person reacts during a hearing for Patrick Crusius, the Walmart mass shooter, in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Ruben R. Ramirez/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius stands up to listen to the charges from Judge Sam Medrano in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue for his sentencing in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Omar Ornelas/Pool Photo via AP)

Patrick Crusius attends a sentencing hearing with Judge Sam Medrano in the 409th district Commissioners Courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthosue during in El Paso, Texas, April 21, 2025. (Ruben R. Ramirez/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Eddie Medina, 62, carries groceries he bought for his wife at the reopening of the Cielo Vista Walmart, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2019 photo, mourners visit the makeshift memorial near the Walmart in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

FILE - A woman is reflected in a picture as she looks at a makeshift memorial at the scene of a mass shooting at a shopping complex Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, May 21, 2020 photo, Vanessa Romero holds her son at a memorial service for the 23rd victim of the Aug. 3 Walmart shooting while wearing an "El Paso Strong" T-shirt and a face mask in El Paso, Texas. AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2019, photo Texas state police cars block the access to the Walmart store in the aftermath of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)