Witnesses search for family, grieve in wake of El Paso shooting
The suspected shooter is in police custody; Garrett Tenney reports from El Paso, Texas.
Fox News reporter Garrett Tenney shared an emotional account from outside the scene of the deadly shooting in El Paso Saturday evening and said one of the victims told him his mother had perished in the carnage.
"It paints a picture for you of what this entire community is going through, including those witnesses that we spoke to earlier at the scene," Tenney told Fox News.
"Just within moments, a son had dropped off his mother at the front of that Walmart so that she could walk in while he drove to find a parking spot. By the time he parked his car, he heard the gunshots ring out. And he got out, ran inside. By the time he got there, he said he saw his mother laying there on the floor with a dozen or so other people, dead, blood all over the floor. And all he could say to me was, 'my mom is dead. My mom.' And that gives you a sense of the loss and the depths of loss in this community, for so many people."
El PASO SHOOTING LEAVES 20 DEAD, 26 INJURED; INVESTIGATORS PROBING POTENTIAL 'NEXUS TO HATE CRIME'
Tenney also said there were people still searching for their loved ones amongst the chaos, specifically one family who hadn't heard from their elderly mother after she left the house to go shopping.
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"A lot of folks [are] still filled with hope that they’ll be able to find their loved ones," he said. "There are those also who are filled with desperation, just in the depths of it, searching for answers about their loved ones. There were three women that just came here and they said they are still looking for their [87-year-old] mother ... They said she left for Walmart this morning and they have not heard from her since. They are desperate for answers."
"One of the daughters came up, just sobbing, yelling -- saying 'I just want to know where she is. I want to know if she is alive or if she is dead. Where is her body?' A lot of folks here are in that situation. 3,000 people inside that Walmart, a lot of folks are still searching for answers to know whether their loved ones are still with them or not," Tenney added.
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The gunman murdered 20 people and injured 26 on Saturday, after he calmly walked into the store and opened fire, Texas, state and city officials said.
The suspect has not been publicly named, but two law enforcement officials identified him to The Associated Press as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas.
Investigators have examined a manifesto that may have been written by the shooter which would indicate a “nexus to a hate crime." The suspect is expected to face capital murder charges.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, and President Trump have been briefed on the shooting and are in direct contact with one another, with Trump pledging the "total support" of the federal government.
Fox News' Lucia I. Suarez and Bradford Betz contributed to this report