The Latest: Police detail call about Crusius owning gun
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — The Latest on the shooting in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
A spokesman for police in Allen, Texas, says a record has been found of a telephone call to police that attorney's for Patrick Crusius' family say came from his mother.
Sgt. Jon Felty told The Associated Press on Thursday that the call was taken on June 27 from a woman who did not identify herself or her son.
Felty says the woman was concerned about her son buying a weapon online, asked if the 21-year-old Crusius was old enough to buy it and whether he would otherwise qualify for the purchase. He says that she was assured he was old enough, but whether he would qualify would depend on the findings of a background check.
Felty says: "At no time did she express a concern for anything but the safety of her son." He added that she was asked several times about whether her son was suicidal or if she had noticed any recent change in his behavior. She assured police that she had seen no change.
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4:40 p.m.
A lawyer for the family of the man accused of killing 22 people in El Paso, Texas, says they never heard him articulate views contained in a racist screed that appeared online before the attack.
Authorities believe 21-year-old Patrick Crusius wrote a rambling document that railed against the dangers of mass immigration before opening fire on a Walmart in the border city last weekend.
Crusius lived near Dallas and authorities say he drove more than 10 hours to El Paso to carry out the attack. But an attorney for his family said Thursday they never heard Crusius express the kind of racist and anti-immigrant views that were posted online.
Attorney Chris Ayres did not answer questions about how the weapon used in the attack was obtained. But he told The Associated Press in an email that Crusius "occasionally shot guns, as many do, with his dad."
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12:30 p.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has crossed the border into Mexico for the funeral of one of the 22 people killed in a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
The former El Paso congressman said Thursday he came to the border city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, "to remind the world that we are a binational community."
O'Rourke says the family that invited him to the funeral asked that he not identify the victim.
Mexican officials have said eight of the people killed in Saturday's attack were Mexican nationals. Authorities believe the 21-year-old suspected gunman posted a racist, anti-immigrant screed online shortly before opening fire.
Another funeral was scheduled later Thursday for Juárez elementary school principal Elsa Mendoza.
