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The Latest: Police detail call about Crusius owning gun

Patrick Crusius
/
FBI

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.

Earlier posts:  

  EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the mass shooting in El Paso (all times local):

8:45 p.m.

An attorney for the family of the man charged in the El Paso Walmart shooting rampage says the man's mother contacted police weeks before the rampage out of concern that her son had a rifle.

Dallas attorney Chris Ayres confirmed to The Associated Press that the call was made to police in Allen, a Dallas suburb. He declined to give details, but he and fellow attorney R. Jack Ayres told CNN that Patrick Crusius' mother contacted the Allen Police Department to ask about an "AK" type firearm Crusius owned.

The attorneys said the mother was only seeking information and wasn't motivated by a concern that her son was a threat to anybody. They also said the mother didn't identify herself or her son in the call.

Sgt. Jon Felty, Allen police spokesman, said there was no record of such a call and he wasn't aware of such a call.

Allen is a Dallas suburb about 580 miles (933 kilometers) east of El Paso.

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8:30 p.m.

A court-appointed lawyer for the man accused of shooting dozens of people in El Paso says he will do everything he can to ensure his client is not executed.

Twenty-one-year-old Patrick Crusius has been charged with capital murder in state court for the Saturday massacre, and may face federal hate-crime charges that could also come with a death sentence if he's convicted.

Attorney Mark Stevens told The Associated Press in an email Wednesday that he "will use every legal tool available to me to prevent" Crusius from being put to death.

Stevens, a veteran criminal defense attorney from San Antonio, said he will only represent Crusius in state court and declined to comment further on the case. A judge appointed him Monday

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3:50 p.m.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's first calls for action after a gunman in El Paso killed 22 people include cracking down on internet sites used by violent extremists and confronting racism. But the Republican didn't suggest any substantive gun-control measures.

Abbott says the state must keep weapons away from "deranged killers" but didn't offer specifics. He also told reporters the information he's received suggests there were "no red flags" with the suspected El Paso gunman.

Abbott met with lawmakers from El Paso on Wednesday in the border city. All are Democrats and have unsuccessfully pushed for gun restrictions in Texas, where three mass shootings since 2017 have killed more than 50 people.

The meeting happened as President Donald Trump was on his way to El Paso.