Gunman who killed 23 in Texas attack offered plea deal to avoid death penalty

Mourners visit a makeshift memorial near the Walmart in El Paso (Cedar Attanasio/AP)

The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 in one of the the deadliest mass shootings in US history has been offered a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, a Texas prosecutor said.

The announcement by El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya is a significant turn in the criminal case of Patrick Crusius, 26, who was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty in 2023 to federal hate crime charges.