Patrick Crusius, the suspect accused of killing 22 people at an El Paso Walmart last week told authorities that he was targeting “Mexicans” and confessed to carrying out the shooting rampage when he surrendered to authorities, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
Law enforcement officials responding to the scene spotted a car stopped at an intersection not far from the Walmart, an El Paso police detective wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the newspaper.
They then saw a man, identified as the 21-year-old Crusius, get out of the car with his hands in the air, the affidavit said.
He told them, “I’m the shooter,” Det. Adrian Garcia said in the affidavit, which was written on Sunday, the day after the shooting.
Authorities believe Crusius was the author of a statement posted online shortly before the attack that decried what it called a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Federal officials have described the attack as domestic terrorism and said they are weighing federal hate crimes charges in the case.
Crusius has been in jail since surrendering to officers and investigators say he has cooperated with them and answered questions. According to Garcia’s affidavit, Crusius waived his right to an attorney and agreed to speak, telling them that he traveled from Allen, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, with an assault rifle and multiple magazines.
“The defendant stated once inside the store he opened fire using his AK-47 shooting multiple innocent victims,” Garcia wrote. The detective added that Crusius said his targets were “Mexicans.”
An attorney for Crusius did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the affidavit.
On Thursday, CNN reported that Crusius’ mother called the police in Allen weeks before the shooting and expressed her concern that her son possessed an AK 47-style assault rifle.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)