He killed her brother in the El Paso Walmart shooting. In court, she embraced him.
The sister of one of the 23 people killed in a racist attack in 2019 at an El Paso Walmart moved an entire courtroom when she decided to hug the gunman responsible for the tragedy after he pleaded guilty.
Yolanda Tinajero said she wanted to hug 26-year-old Patrick Crusius so he could feel her pain – and her forgiveness. Her brother, Arturo Benavides, a decorated U.S. Army veteran, was killed on Aug. 3, 2019, when Crusius carried out one of the deadliest mass shooting and the worst domestic terror attack on Hispanic people in U.S. history. Crusius pleaded guilty on April 21 and will spend life in prison without parole.
"In my heart, I want to hug you very tight so you could feel my forgiveness, especially my loss," Tinajero said in court on April 22 during a victim impact statement. "But I know it's not allowed. I want you to see and feel all of us who have been impacted by your actions that have brought us all closer with God's love, which shows you that this great city of El Paso is a very forgiving place."
In a powerful moment, Judge Sam Medrano asked Tinajero if she wanted the opportunity to hug the gunman.
She got up from her seat at the witness stand and walked over to the gunman. The gunman leaned forward and the two embraced.
Tinajero whispered into the gunman's ear as they hugged for about a minute. For the first time in nearly six years, the gunman showed emotion in the courtroom as he hugged her and nodded his head, "yes" as Tinajero spoke to him.
The powerful moment brought everyone in the courtroom to tears, including the law enforcement officers standing guard.
"I feel an empty space in my heart, but in this empty space, I still have room for forgiveness for you," Tinajero said in her victim impact statement. "At first, I was very angry at you, but God helped me to suppress this anger with forgiveness."
'Love is better than hate'
After giving her victim impact statement, Tinajero’s daughter Melissa's voice broke with emotion, biting her lip to hold back tears as she spoke to reporters about her mother hugging the gunman.
“My mother chose to embrace him in an act of love and forgiveness for herself," Melissa Tinajero said. "I don’t know how she did it, but that’s who she is and no matter what, she found a place of forgiveness and a place of compassion that he didn’t have for others.
"And I think she just wanted him to know that love conquers all and also to feel the loss that we are experiencing.”
Melissa Tinajero said she wanted the shooter to know “the enormity” of the damage he caused to everyone associated in any way to the massacre, their families and the El Paso community.
“It’s just touched tons and tons of lives in our city,” Melissa Tinajero said.
Forgiving a 'monster'
During emotionally charged victim impact statements, Crusius was described over and over as a monster.
The gunman drove nearly 700 miles from Allen, Texas, to El Paso that day and carried out the shooting in the Walmart parking lot and inside the store. He admitted to law enforcement that he carried out the attack to stop what he claimed was the invasion of Hispanics into the United States. U.S. and Mexican citizens were killed in the attack.
Still, forgiveness was a theme of many who spoke.
"I, Mario Perez, forgive Mr. Patrick and I leave it all in the hands of God," Mario Perez Briones, who survived two gunshot wounds, said during his victim impact statement. "I hope that one day (the gunman) feels sorry for what he did and he asks God for forgiveness. May God forgive him."
Another woman, Adriana Zandri, also hugged the gunman after asking the judge permission.
Mariscal Olivia Rodriguez, who was shot during the attack, described the horror she saw on the day of the shooting.
"He's a monster on earth, and I am sure that he will be judged after his death," Rodriguez said.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Christopher Cann, Paste BN