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July 7 (UPI) -- The man responsible for fatally shooting 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms on Friday for federal hate crimes. Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges in February in an agreement that included one life sentence for each count. He did not address the court Friday as his sentence was read.
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Dean Reckard, who lost a family member in the shooting, shouted in court, "We will be seeing you again, you coward. We will see you again," the El Paso Times reported.
During the sentencing hearing over two days, 36 people confronted Crusius.
Prosecutors said in a superseding federal indictment that the motive for the mass murders was to kill immigrants and Mexicans.
That indictment quoted a social media post the killer made the day of the attack: "This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas. They are the instigators, not me. I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by the invasion."
Family members of the victims offered intense, angry and sometimes tearful statements as the shooter sometimes reacted to what they had to say.
The father of 15-year-old Javier Amir Rodriguez, the youngest victim, wore a T-shirt with a picture of his sone he confronted the killer in court.
"Look at me, you coward. Look at my son's picture," Francisco Javier Rodriguez said in court on Thursday, according to ABC El Paso affiliate KVIA. "Because of you, he never graduated from high school. I carry my son's ashes with me everywhere I go."
Genesis Davila, 16, remembers the last hug she got from one of her coaches who was killed by the gunman. Her father was wounded but survived.
"I want you dead," she said, as she stared at the defendant. "I hate you so much."
Reckard, whose mother, Margie Reckard, was killed, said, "You haven't showed any signs of remorse. You really haven't. Are you sorry for what you did?"
Crusius nodded yes.
Thomas Hoffman lost his father, Alexander Hoffman, in the rampage. He told Crusius his father was "not a racist like you."
"You're an ignorant coward and you deserve to suffer in jail and then burn in hell," Thomas Hoffman said. "You are an evil parasite that is nothing without a weapon."
Bertha Patricia Benavides, whose husband, Arturo Benavides, died in the shooting, said, "I'll never get over it. You destroyed so many families. It will still take time to recover from the loss."
Crusius could still face the death penalty as El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks anticipates bringing a state trial on murder charges in 2024 or 2025.
