Gunman kills 20 at Texas Walmart store in latest US mass shooting
El Paso: A gunman armed with an assault rifle killed 20 people Saturday when he opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store in the latest mass shooting in the United States.
As residents of the southern border town of El Paso in Texas tried to absorb the full horror of what is being treated as a potential "hate crime," fresh calls rang out to end the nationwide "epidemic" of gun violence. It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend.
One suspect was taken into custody while authorities were studying an extremist manifesto purportedly written by the gunman.
Footage shot on camera phones appeared to show multiple bodies lying on the ground in the store's parking lot while El Paso authorities made a desperate appeal for blood donations.
Other footage showed terrified shoppers running out of the store as gunfire echoed. "Twenty innocent people from El Paso have lost their lives," Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference.
"We as a state unite in support of these victims and their family members... We pray that God can be with those who have been harmed in any way and bind up their wounds."
Police chief Greg Allen confirmed that in addition to the 20 confirmed fatalities, there were 26 wounded. Various news reports said the ages of victims being treated at hospitals ranged from two to 82 years. Police said that Walmart was "at capacity" at the time of the shooting, with 1,000-3,000 customers inside.
After officials initially said three people had been detained, police confirmed that a 21-year-old from Allen, Texas, was the only person in custody.
"Right now we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree, it has a nexus to potential hate crime," Allen said. US media named the suspect as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, who is white.
The "manifesto" purportedly written by Crusius that was circulated online includes passages railing against the "Hispanic invasion" of Texas and the author makes clear that he expected to be killed during his attack.
Witnesses said the gunman appeared to be shooting at random when he opened fire around 10:30 am. One woman, who gave her name as Vanessa, said she had just pulled into the Walmart parking lot when the shooting began.
"You could hear the pops, one right after another and at that point as I was turning, I saw a lady, seemed she was coming out of Walmart, headed to her car. She had her groceries in her cart and I saw her just fall," she told Fox News.
The witness said the gunman wore black t-shirt, combat trousers and was wearing ear muffs.
"He was just shooting randomly. It wasn't to any particular person. It was any that would cross paths." Another shopper described how he managed to avoid being hit by hiding along with his mother between two vending machines just outside the store.
"That's where the individual tried to shoot at me, which he missed cause I kind of ducked down," Robert Curado told the El Paso Times.
Video captured by a witness in the parking lot in the immediate aftermath of the shooting showed three people lying motionless on the ground.
One had fallen next to a truck, while two were on the sidewalk outside the store entrance. " Ambulance! Help!" people cried as they rushed to the victims.
"How you doing, brother, how you doing," one man was heard saying on the recording. A still captured from CCTV showed the gunman carrying what appeared to be an AK-47.
President Donald Trump, who is spending the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey, condemned the "terrible" shooting after being briefed by Attorney General Bill Barr and Abbott.
It has been a particularly bad week for gun violence in the United States.
Two people died and a police officer was wounded Tuesday at a Walmart in Mississippi. Last Sunday a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a food festival in northern California, killing three, including two children.
Beto O'Rourke, a former US congressman for El Paso who is now running for president, cut off his campaigning in the wake of the shooting.
"I'm incredibly saddened and it's very hard to think about this. But I tell you El Paso is the strongest place in the world, this community is going to come together," he told supporters.
Elizabeth Warren, a senator who is among the frontrunners for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, said "far too many communities have suffered through tragedies like this already.
"We must act now to end our country's gun violence epidemic," she said. Another presidential hopeful Cory Booker said the US had "to end this national nightmare" and "find the moral courage to take action to end this carnage."
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SC delivers split verdict on Section 17A of PC Act mandating sanction to probe govt servants
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a split verdict on the constitutional validity of a 2018 provision of the anti-graft law which mandates prior sanction for initiating a probe against a government servant in a corruption case.
While Justice BV Nagarathna said Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act is unconstitutional and needs to be struck down, Justice KV Viswanathan held the provision as constitutional while stressing on the need to protect honest officers.
Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, introduced in July 2018, bars any “enquiry or inquiry or investigation” against a public servant for recommendations made in discharge of official duties without prior approval from the competent authority.
The top court's judgement came on a PIL filed by NGO 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' (CPIL) against the validity of amended section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Requirement of prior sanction is contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act, forecloses inquiry and protects corrupt, Justice Nagarathna said.
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"Section 17A is unconstitutional and it ought to be struck down. No prior approval is required to be taken... The requirement of prior sanction is contrary to the object of the Act, and it forecloses inquiry and protects the corrupt rather than seeking to protect the honest and those with integrity who really do not require any protection," Justice Nagarathna said.
Justice Viswanathan said striking down section 17A will be akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water and the “cure will be worse than the disease”.
"Section 17A is constitutionally valid subject to the condition that the sanction must be decided by the Lok Pal or the Lokayukta of the State...
"The safeguard of this provision will strengthen the hands of honest officers but also ensure that the corrupt are brought to book. It will guarantee that the administrative machinery attracts the best talent for the service of the nation,"Justice Viswanathan said.
The case will now be placed before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for forming a larger bench to hear the matter for a final decision.
"Having regard to the divergent opinions expressed by us, we direct the Registry to place this matter before the Chief Justice of India for constituting an appropriate bench to consider the issues which arise in this matter afresh," the bench said.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, had argued that the provisions crippled the anti-corruption law as sanctions were not usually forthcoming from the government, which was the ‘competent authority’.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had appeared for the Union government.
