EL PASO, Texas (AP) – A 21-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to capital murder in the fatal shooting of 22 people at a West Texas Walmart.
Patrick Crusius entered the plea Thursday during his first appearance before a trial judge in El Paso. Police have said Crusius confessed to targeting Mexicans in the Aug. 3 attack in the largely Latino border city.
Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for Crusius.
Most of those killed in the shooting had Hispanic last names and eight were Mexican nationals. The Department of Justice has called it an act of domestic terrorism.
Some two-dozen people were injured in the attack. Hospital officials say two of them remain hospitalized.
The attack came hours before another mass shooting that killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio.
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