In an El Paso courthouse not far from where a gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in a 2019 attack targeting Hispanic shoppers, victims’ family members and survivors got their last chance to address him face-to-face in court this week
A woman hugs the man who fatally shot her brother and 22 more in a racist attack at a Texas WalmartBy JAMIE STENGLEAssociated PressThe Associated Press
Speaking to the gunman who killed her brother and 22 other people, Yolanda Tinajero did not raise her voice or condemn him for his racist attack at a Walmart in 2019. Instead she told him Tuesday that she forgave him, and wished she could give him a hug.
The judge, in a surprising turn in an El Paso courtroom, allowed her to do just that.
Their brief embrace — while Patrick Crusius was still shackled — was among many emotionally charged moments during two days of impact statements given by victims’ family members and survivors.
Some described their pain and devastation while others assured him the community had met his hatred with love and unity. Later, another person also hugged the man who pleaded guilty in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S.
Crusius, a white community college dropout, had posted online a screed about a Hispanic invasion of Texas before opening fire with an AK-style rifle at the store near the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 3, 2019. Crusius didn’t address the families and survivors at his plea hearing Monday. He will serve multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to capital murder and 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
“We would have opened our doors to you to share a meal, breakfast lunch or dinner, Mexican-style, so then your ugly thoughts of us that have been instilled in you would have turned around,” Tinajero told him.
‘Hug you very tight’
Tinajero said her brother, 60-year-old Arturo Benavides, was a “kind, sweet-hearted person,” whose wife of over 30 years is broken hearted over her loss.
“Now she lives alone in their home full of memories that she can’t forget,” she said.
“I feel in my heart, to hug you very tight so you could feel my forgiveness, especially my loss, but I know it’s not allowed,” Tinajero said. “I want you to see and feel all of us who have been impacted by your actions.”
Later, the judge asked her: “Ma’am, would it truly bring you peace and comfort if you could hug him?”
’Yes,” she replied.
Her daughter, Melissa Tinajero, told reporters: “I don’t know how she was able to do it. I could not do that. But she showed him something he could not show his victims.”
‘A survivor, not a victim’
Stephanie Melendez told Crusius that she did not want to address him but rather read a letter to her father, 63-year-old David Johnson, who was killed when he shielded his wife and 9-year-old granddaughter from the gunfire.
Melendez thanked her father for making her study, giving her a curfew and telling her when she was 16 that she needed to get a job.
“You made me into the strong woman I am today,” she said.
Her daughter, Kaitlyn Melendez, now 14, told Crusius: “I am a survivor, not a victim.”
“I’m going to walk out these doors and move forward with my life and not let you haunt me anymore.”
‘A disgrace to humanity’
Dean Reckard, whose 63-year-old mother Margie Reckard was among those killed, expressed anger and forgiveness as he addressed Crusius.
“You’re a disgrace to humanity and to your family,” Reckard said, adding that he hopes Crusius wakes up each morning wishing he were dead.
But Reckard also said he forgave the gunman who will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“In order to be forgiving, you have to forgive others,” he said. “That’s the only reason I forgive you. May God have mercy on your soul.”
Thousands of people attended Margie Reckard’s funeral after her partner of 22 years, Antonio Basco, invited the public to the service, saying he felt alone after her death.
‘Left me sad, bitter’
Liliana Munoz of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, said in court Monday that she was shopping for snacks when Crusius opened fire, forever changing her life physically, economically and emotionally.
In her statement, she said she used to be a “happy, dancing person,” but now is afraid every morning when she awakes. Since she was shot, she has had to use a cane to walk and wears a leg brace to keep her left foot from dragging.
“It left me sad, bitter,” said the 41-year-old mother.
She also granted Crusius forgiveness.
‘You brought us together’
Javier Rodriguez was 15 and starting his sophomore year in high school when he was shot and killed at a bank in Walmart.
On Tuesday his father Francisco Rodriguez shouted at Crusius: “Look at me, I’m talking to you.”
He told Crusius that he and his family have to go to the cemetery to commemorate his son’s birthday.
“I wish I could just get five minutes with you — me and you — and get all of this, get it over with,” he said.
But Rodriguez also referred to comments made about Crusius’ impact on El Paso during his sentencing.
“Like the judge said yesterday, you came down to El Paso with the intention of tearing us apart, but all you did, you brought us together,” he said.
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This story has been updated to correct that Javier Rodriguez’s family members go to the cemetery to commemorate his birthday, not his death.
