Police in El Paso tweeted that there were multiple reports of multiple shooters as the grim massacre in El Paso unfolded last Saturday, and the mayor of El Paso later told CNN distinctly that “three suspects” had been placed in custody. However, further reports have eliminated mention of any more than one shooter. The sole suspect now is Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, who allegedly posted a racist manifesto on the Internet before the shooting.
Authorities have not released a timeline of the actual shooting. A male in a surveillance photo, allegedly Crusius, can be seen with what appears to be a 30-round magazine loaded into an AK-47 rifle entering the Walmart. The toll is reported now at 22 dead and 24 injured. No reconstruction of the shooter’s movements in the store or time for any reloading has been released. The shooter is not wearing a tactical vest carrying additional magazines but is wearing cargo pants with pockets. No other magazines are visible in the surveillance photos released.
The New York Times reported yesterday that authorities are studying the manifesto to determine if it was actually written by Crusius.
Scene is still Active. We have multi reports of multiple shooters. Please avoid area police conducting search of a very large area. Media staging will be given when area is secure.
— EL PASO POLICE DEPT (@EPPOLICE) August 3, 2019
And in a strangely deleted CBS News tweet, CBS reported that “El Paso Police say they have “no doubt” there are multiple shooters.” The tweet was captured by WWL AM/FM radio of New Orleans before it disappeared.
In a related development, a woman witness says that she saw three to four men dressed in black running and shooting, and that she was sure they were not police. The woman and her daughter took cover beneath a table of some sort. The woman says, in Spanish:
“I didn’t see their faces. I saw them all dressed in black, and they were the ones shooting because I could see their weapons and the bullets firing…”
The woman makes a sweeping motion like a rifle being fired back and forth.
Another witness insisted that the gunman he saw was wearing “all black” and wore a mask. The suspect Crusius in surveillance footage is not wearing a mask, nor all black clothing.
The references to more than one gunman at a shooting recall witnesses after the Las Vegas shooting of 2014, as well as the San Bernardino shooting in 2015.
Reoccurring theme, multiple shooters.
I like to run names through an anagram generator, sometimes the results are interesting.
Patrick Crusius
A Circus Skirt Up