Authorities warned of an active shooter in the area of Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso on Saturday afternoon.

City police said at 11:03 a.m. local time that people should avoid the area of Hawkins and Gateway East boulevards, adding that the “scene is still active.” The department said in another tweet at 11:09 p.m. that the shooter remained active.

The Post could not immediately reach El Paso police for more information.

Reports of the shooter disrupted a town hall that El Paso’s Rep. Veronica Escobar was hosting at Coronado High School.

A Facebook Live broadcast of the event showed Escobar being approached by two individuals. After a brief conversation, she told the crowd that the event would have to be cleared due to an active shooter.

She clarified that the attack was occurring at Cielo Vista rather than at the school as people murmured.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry," she said. "I apologize. Let’s take a deep breath. We’ve been asked by law enforcement to just send everybody home. I’m so sorry we have to end this early. Thank you all for coming. Please be safe.”

This is developing story and will be updated.

EL PASO — Police have one person in custody after a mass shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in this city on the Texas-Mexico border.

Media reports indicate that between 18 and 22 people have died in the shooting at the Walmart just off Interstate 10 on the city's east side, but police have not given any details about the number of casualties. State Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, told CNN that more than 19 people were shot.

Sgt. Enrique Carrillo of the El Paso Police Department said there were multiple fatalities and multiple injuries. Carrillo did not give additional information, but he said there's no imminent threat at the scene. He added that law enforcement is still searching the perimeter and advised people to stay away from the area.

Sgt. Robert Gomez, also with the El Paso Police Department, said police don't believe there were other shooters beyond the person they have in custody — but he said police are still investigating and the situation is fluid.

Gomez said 911 calls about the shooting began coming in at 10 a.m. local time. Law enforcement soon sealed off the area around the Walmart. FBI SWAT teams could be seen near armored vehicles, along with Texas Department of Safety troopers, as a military-style helicopter circled overhead.

The first reports of a shooting emerged at about 10:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

Police said the Walmart was "at capacity" with shoppers buying back-to-school supplies at the time of the attack.

He said the suspect was a white male in his 20s. No officers had fired their weapons in apprehending him, he added.

A man who was in the shopping centre at the time of the attack recalled the moment that he found out about the shooting.

"There were employees, they were coming in and they would tell me that they heard some gunshots and that people just started bolting straight into the store in order to get to cover. In the meantime I was just trying to stay calm, but I was freaking out internally," he told CBS News.

Another witness, Glendon Oakly, told CNN that he was in a sporting goods store inside the shopping centre when a child ran inside "telling us there's an active shooter at Walmart".

Mr Oakly said no-one took the child's report seriously, but just minutes later he heard two gunshots.

"I just thought about getting the kids out of the way," he said.

Police said they no longer believed there was any immediate threat to the public, but were continuing searches. A family reunification area had been set up nearby for those searching for loved ones.

El Paso Police Department tweeted that blood donations were "needed urgently".

TrueTexan wrote:

EL PASO — Police have one person in custody after a mass shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in this city on the Texas-Mexico border.

Media reports indicate that between 18 and 22 people have died in the shooting at the Walmart just off Interstate 10 on the city's east side, but police have not given any details about the number of casualties. State Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, told CNN that more than 19 people were shot.

Sgt. Enrique Carrillo of the El Paso Police Department said there were multiple fatalities and multiple injuries. Carrillo did not give additional information, but he said there's no imminent threat at the scene. He added that law enforcement is still searching the perimeter and advised people to stay away from the area.

Sgt. Robert Gomez, also with the El Paso Police Department, said police don't believe there were other shooters beyond the person they have in custody — but he said police are still investigating and the situation is fluid.

Gomez said 911 calls about the shooting began coming in at 10 a.m. local time. Law enforcement soon sealed off the area around the Walmart. FBI SWAT teams could be seen near armored vehicles, along with Texas Department of Safety troopers, as a military-style helicopter circled overhead.

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/08/0 ... ista-mall/

Shooter in custody. Wonder what the story of why will be?

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 7:58 pm A question to the members. I was trying to remember while reading about this shooter’s racist rantings. Have we ever has a mass shooting caused a by a liberal left wing shooter?

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 8:39 pm

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 7:58 pm A question to the members. I was trying to remember while reading about this shooter’s racist rantings. Have we ever has a mass shooting caused a by a liberal left wing shooter?

Only one I know of is the idiot who shot up the baseball practice that injured Steve Scalise. He was killed by the Capitol Police guards, one of whom was wounded. He didn't kill anyone.

Unless you go back to the Weather Underground in the 70's up to 1980.

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:02 pm

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 8:39 pm

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 7:58 pm A question to the members. I was trying to remember while reading about this shooter’s racist rantings. Have we ever has a mass shooting caused a by a liberal left wing shooter?

Only one I know of is the idiot who shot up the baseball practice that injured Steve Scalise. He was killed by the Capitol Police guards, one of whom was wounded. He didn't kill anyone.

Unless you go back to the Weather Underground in the 70's up to 1980.

Weather underground didn’t do mass shooting, they preferred bombs targeting certain people or institutions.

Stiff wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 8:48 pm El Paso is a border town. I know that a lot of Mexicans go there to shop on weekends. I wonder if the shooter was targeting them.

K9s wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:39 pm

Stiff wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 8:48 pm El Paso is a border town. I know that a lot of Mexicans go there to shop on weekends. I wonder if the shooter was targeting them.

Trump, Fox, and the right wing media target El Paso as a "dangerous place". He had a rally there, too.

Fox News contributor mocked for wearing ‘totally ridiculous’ body armor at the border
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-ent ... -spots-us/

senorgrand wrote:We need to work on the amount of hate in this country...this president isn't helping. Neither is the media.

The U.S. is “under attack from homegrown white nationalist terrorists,” said Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.

“White nationalism is evil, and it is inspiring people to commit murder, and it is being condoned at the highest levels of the American government, and that has to end,” Buttigieg told the audience here at a candidate forum.

He later specified that he was referring to Trump. “The president of the United States is condoning white nationalism,” he said and added that Trump and all leaders have “a responsibility to nip that in the bud.”

Democrats have roundly denounced Trump in recent weeks for his aggressive tactics against migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and his racist remarks about people of color serving in Congress. Asked this month if he was concerned that white nationalists found common cause with him over his attacks on four Democratic congresswomen, Trump responded: “It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me.”

Trump had no immediate comment Saturday on the shooter’s possible motives or on Buttigieg’s criticism. On Twitter, Trump called the massacre “an act of cowardice” and pledged federal support to state leaders.

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:39 pm

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:02 pm

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 8:39 pm

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2019 7:58 pm A question to the members. I was trying to remember while reading about this shooter’s racist rantings. Have we ever has a mass shooting caused a by a liberal left wing shooter?

Only one I know of is the idiot who shot up the baseball practice that injured Steve Scalise. He was killed by the Capitol Police guards, one of whom was wounded. He didn't kill anyone.

Unless you go back to the Weather Underground in the 70's up to 1980.

Weather underground didn’t do mass shooting, they preferred bombs targeting certain people or institutions.

True, but that's a close as I know of, and that was almost 40 years ago. Not sure where Manson 50 years ago fits.

Although authorities did not publicly confirm his identity or describe the precise contents of the manifesto, a document posted on the website 8chan about an hour-and-a-half before the rampage spoke about the “invasion” of Latino immigrants and said the writer agreed with the shooter who killed worshipers at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. That document was posted by an anonymous user who posted another document under the file name “P._Crusius.” That file was taken down, and it is not clear what it contained.

A Twitter account that appeared to belong to Crusius was shut down Saturday evening. Tweets on the account had praised President Trump and, in particular, his effort to build a wall along the U.S- Mexico border.

Leigh Ann Locascio, a former neighbor, said Crusius was an extreme loner who always sat alone on the bus in junior high and high school. He spoke negatively of other kids who played sports or joined the school band, she said.

She described Crusius as “very much a loner, very stand-offish” and someone who “didn’t interact a whole lot with anyone.” Her son, Tony Locascio, walked to school regularly with Crusius and his sister. Tony Locascio said Patrick Crusius only walked ahead or behind them, never interacting and always keeping to himself. He liked animals and kept pet snakes. “He wouldn’t talk to people. No one really knew him,” Tony Locascio said.

Another former classmate, Jacob Wilson, said Crusius was “very strong minded” in class and would try to “take charge” but other kids refused to work with him because he “irritable and had a short temper.” He was often “picked on” because of how he spoke, and because he wore what looked like hand-me-down clothes, Wilson said.

Wilson, who is now 20 and works in his family’s scrap metal recycling business, said he was in English class with Crusius during their senior year, and the taunts from other kids during class seemed relentless. “Every time I looked up in class it was someone new speaking negatively to the kid, ‘Patrick that is dumb, stupid,’” Wilson said.