The FBI investigates mass shooting on Saturday in a busy mall in El Paso, Texas, as a case of domestic terrorism, while state prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for the suspect.
US prosecutor John Bash said Sunday at a press conference in El Paso that the federal government is also investigating the attack on a commercial plaza with a view to filing federal charges for hate crimes.
El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza told reporters that the state of Texas also plans to request the death penalty.
President Donald Trump ordered the flags across the country to be lowered at half-mast, at military facilities
For his part, the police chief in El Paso is linking a racist and anti-immigrant document published online shortly before the shooting that killed 20 people to Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, the man in custody believed to be responsible for the attack.
Crusius has been charged with capital murder.
El Paso police chief Greg Allen told reporters on Sunday that “we have to attribute that manifesto directly to him.”
The document published online expresses the concern of the attacker that an influx of Hispanics into the United States replaces aging white voters, which could turn Texas blue (the color of the Democratic Party) in the 2020 elections , helping the Democrats recover the White House.
When asked if the shooting was a hate crime, Allen said that “it is beginning to look more solidly like that is the case.”
An armed man armed with a rifle opened fire in a commercial area of El Paso filled with up to 3,000 people during the back to school shopping season, leaving 20 dead and more than 26 wounded, the police said.
