EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — This week marked seven years since a gunman drove 10 hours from Allen, Texas, and gunned down 23 people at an El Paso Walmart.
Twenty-three others were wounded in the hate-filled attack that rocked this binational community.
Local leaders and elected officials have been gathering with the community to pay respects to those lost, as well as survivors and first-responders.
On Sunday, El Paso County hosted the Seventh Annual Day of Remembrance at the Healing Garden inside Ascarate Park.
The ceremony includes welcoming and closing remarks by El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, an invocation by Bishop Mark Seitz, a prayer led by Pastor Michael Grady, and the reading of the names of the 23 victims by the El Paso County Commissioners Court.
On Monday morning, the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR) hosted a community remembrance ceremony Jim Crouch Park, which is located in the neighborhood behind the Walmart and which is also home to the city’s Aug. 3 memorial.
On Monday evening, the famed star on the Franklin Mountains flashed 23 times to honor the victims.
The gunman, Patrick Crusius, pleaded guilty to 90 federal murder and hate crime charges and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences. He also pleaded guilty to state capital murder charges after the local district attorney announced that he would not seek the death penalty. Crusius is currently incarcerated at the Skyview Unit in Rusk in East Texas.
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