03:36USA: Dozens commemorate El Paso Walmart shooting victims one year later
Dozens of activists with the Border Network for Human Rights organised a memorial event in Ponder Park in El Paso, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Walmart that killed 23 people last year.
Participants carried crosses bearing the names of the 23 victims and banners reading "We won't forget, standing against white supremacy, racism and xenophobia."
They also released 23 doves from cages and laid flowers at a memorial in the carpark of El Paso Walmart where the attack happened.
"We still have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of racism in our country, it´s something that we already know," said US Representative Veronica Garcia. "This year has been a year full of pain and trauma, especially for El Paso but for all Latinxs as well, for immigrant families."
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network, said that it is especially important to remember that the shooting was not random, but motivated by hatred and specific political rhetoric.
At Ponder Park, which is just a few hundred yards away from the Walmart where the attack occurred, traditional dancers performed in front of the memorial that was erected by the city after items were removed from the original spontaneous memorial near the store. Participants were invited to tie orange ribbons, symbolic of gun violence awareness, or leave flowers or other tokens at the memorial.
On August 3 2019, 23 people were killed and two dozen were injured after then 21-year-old Patrick Crusius allegedly opened fire at a Walmart store inside the Cielo Vista Mall, the largest shopping centre in El Paso, Texas.
03:36Dozens of activists with the Border Network for Human Rights organised a memorial event in Ponder Park in El Paso, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Walmart that killed 23 people last year.
Participants carried crosses bearing the names of the 23 victims and banners reading "We won't forget, standing against white supremacy, racism and xenophobia."
They also released 23 doves from cages and laid flowers at a memorial in the carpark of El Paso Walmart where the attack happened.
"We still have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of racism in our country, it´s something that we already know," said US Representative Veronica Garcia. "This year has been a year full of pain and trauma, especially for El Paso but for all Latinxs as well, for immigrant families."
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network, said that it is especially important to remember that the shooting was not random, but motivated by hatred and specific political rhetoric.
At Ponder Park, which is just a few hundred yards away from the Walmart where the attack occurred, traditional dancers performed in front of the memorial that was erected by the city after items were removed from the original spontaneous memorial near the store. Participants were invited to tie orange ribbons, symbolic of gun violence awareness, or leave flowers or other tokens at the memorial.
On August 3 2019, 23 people were killed and two dozen were injured after then 21-year-old Patrick Crusius allegedly opened fire at a Walmart store inside the Cielo Vista Mall, the largest shopping centre in El Paso, Texas.