El Paso, Texas Rallies Together in the Wake of Tragedy

Over the weekend, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas. The death toll increased to 22 on Monday, with dozens wounded. In a press conference, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas John Bash said prosecutors are treating the shooting “as a domestic terrorist case.”

Police have identified the 21-year-old shooter and linked him to a four-page post on 8chan, a site used by extremists to spread violent messages. Minutes before the shooting, the author wrote: “I’ll die today.” The post is described as “filled with white nationalist and racist hatred toward immigrants and Hispanics.”

Antonio Villaseñor-Baca is 23 and lives just a couple minutes from where the shooting took place. When he stepped out of his house yesterday, he said he was met with a silence that broke his heart. “But what stood out and has been so comforting is how the city has come together, to provide aid and relief to the victims and to condemn not just the terrorist and his actions but also the rhetoric that led up to his actions. That’s El Paso,” Villaseñor-Baca said.

Residents of the city and others who traveled to be there in the wake of the shooting have taken to Twitter to express support and solidarity for those who were affected by the weekend’s tragic event.