2 injured El Paso victims die, raising death toll of shooting rampage to 22
EL PASO, Texas - Two injured victims have died from a weekend mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, raising the death toll from the rampage to 22, officials said Monday.
Hospital officials confirmed the latest death after police tweeted confirming another wounded victim's death earlier in the morning. No other details were immediately provided.
Dr. Stephen Flaherty said at a news conference that gunshot wounds of the patients treated at the Del Sol Medical Center have been "devastating and major."
He said one patient who died at the hospital had major internal abdominal injuries affecting the liver, kidneys and intestines. That patient also received a "massive blood transfusion," Flaherty said.
The hospital didn't release the names or ages of the two patients who died Monday, but hospital officials described one as an elderly woman.
More than two dozen people were wounded in the attack. The suspected gunman, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, of Allen, Texas, has been booked on capital murder charges.
Police still haven't released a list of the victims of the attack, which happened hours before a separate mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that claimed nine lives.
Speaking from the White House on Monday, President Donald Trump condemned the El Paso mass shooting and another in Dayton, Ohio, hours later in his first public remarks since the attacks.
He called for bipartisan cooperation to respond to an epidemic of gun violence, but he offered scant details on concrete steps that could be taken.
"We vow to act with urgent resolve," Trump said.
Police said Sunday that all bodies have been removed from the store and its parking lot, and that the attack did not spread to other nearby shopping areas. Police Sgt. Robert Gomez said most of the victims were inside the store.
KDFW-TV reported Crusius' grandparents issued a statement Sunday saying they were "devastated" by the rampage.
Allen is more than 600 miles from where Saturday's rampage occurred. The FBI says the suspect didn't have any contacts in El Paso.
Detectives are also trying to determine with a racist, anti-immigrant screed posted online shortly before Saturday's shooting was written by Crusius.
Federal authorities said they are weighing hate-crime charges against the suspected gunman El Paso that could carry the death penalty.
The shootings in Texas and Ohio were the 21st and 22nd mass killings of 2019 in the U.S., according to the AP/USA Today/Northeastern University mass murder database that tracks homicides where four or more people killed — not including the offender.
Including the two latest attacks, 126 people had been killed in the 2019 mass shootings.
Since 2006, 11 mass shootings — not including Saturday's — have been committed by men who are 21 or younger.