Another victim has died nearly nine months after a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart in which the alleged gunman said he was targeting Mexicans.
Guillermo "Memo" Garcia passed away Saturday, his wife, Jessica Coco Garcia, told El Paso ABC affiliate KVIA. His death brings the fatalities in the August 2019 attack to 23.
"He fought long and hard, with the help of all his troops he won many battles, but lost the war," Jessica Coco Garcia said in the statement to KVIA. "We would like to ask the community to continue to lift Memo in prayer and allow us to grief this tremendous loss, we are asking for privacy during this time."
The Garcia family plans to have a memorial and mass once "the pandemic and social distancing orders pass," she said in her statement.
Guillermo Garcia was the last remaining patient from the Aug. 3 shooting being treated at Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, according to CEO David Shimp.
"His courage, his strength and his story have touched many lives, including those of our caregivers, who tirelessly fought with him and for him every step of the way," Shrimp said in a statement. "We are grieving with his family and with our community."
The Garcias, of El Paso, were shopping at the crowded Walmart with their two children on the morning of Aug. 3 when shots rang out. Both were "gravely injured," according to a lawsuit the couple filed against Walmart in El Paso district court in late August. Guillermo
Garcia was shot in the spine, according to the El Paso Times.
Patrick Crusius, 21, the alleged gunman in the shooting rampage, faces state capital murder charges and federal hate crime charges.
Crusius allegedly told investigators following his arrest that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could.
