One person was killed and three were wounded in a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday evening. The police spokesperson, Robert Gomez, informed the media that one suspect was taken into custody and that the police were looking for another possible suspect. The motive behind the mass shooting remains undetermined.
The mall at which the shooting took place is in the near vicinity of a Walmart store where 23 people were killed in a racially induced shooting back in Aug 2019.
1 dead and 3 wounded in the shooting in El Paso, the same place that had encountered another mass shooting back in 2019
The shooting took place just after 5 pm on Wednesday at the Cielo Vista mall in El Paso, Texas. The police officials responded to reports of a shooting in the mall’s food court and Dillard’s department store. In an interaction with reporters, Police spokesperson, Gomez, said, “It was chaotic. People did flee. They were scared. Like I said, there were shots fired in the mall. It does cause panic.” Gomes further added that it was too early to speculate the motive behind the shooting.
Interim police chief Peter Pacillas has said that there is no more danger to the public. He also informed that the mall is still considered a crime scene and would remain locked until the authorities have completed their investigation.
The Cielo Vista mall is next to the Walmart store where 24-year-old Patrick Crusius killed 23 people on 3 Aug 2019. The shooter pled guilty to all the federal charges against him last week, more than 3 years after the racist attack. Authorities reported that Crusius drove 11 hours from Allen, Texas to El Paso intending to kill immigrants. Minutes before the shooting, he is believed to have published an essay named, ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, in which he is against race mixing and urges immigrants to go back to their country.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso, tweeted: “Today’s shooting at the Cielo Vista Mall has brought back traumatic memories for many of us. Please know you are not alone.” She has encouraged the public to reach out through the city’s crisis helpline.
El Paso is located on the U.S. border with Mexico and has a predominantly Latino population of about 700,000 people. The FBI is working with the El Paso police in the investigation and has put up a website urging the public to share photos or videos from the shooting.
Recent mass shootings in the US
The US has seen several public shootings in 2024. The most recent one that happened at Michigan State University left 3 students dead and 5 injured. Multiple shootings took place in the state of California; 11 people were left dead in a dance hall in the Los Angeles-area city of Monterey Park, and seven were killed in the coastal town of Half Moon Bay. USA Today reports that there have been 71 mass shootings already in the year 2024.
To add to that, last year saw one of the worst shootings ever encountered. At Robb Elementary school, Uvalde, Texas, an 18-year-old former student fatally shot 19 students and 2 teachers, while 17 others were left injured. According to Gun Violence Archive, there were more than 600 public shootings in the US in 2022.
