El Paso shooting survivor says gunman shot people while they prayed: 'He had no remorse ... at all'

Marissa Higgins

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday August 07, 2019 · 7:39 AM PDT

2019/08/07 · 07:39

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On Saturday, a 21-year-old white supremacist brandished an assault rifle in an El Paso, Texas Walmart where he proceeded to shoot and kill 22 people and injure dozens of others. Now that the white man is in custody and survivors are slowly able to share their stories, more horrifying details are leaking out.

As first reported by CNN, survivor Christopher Grant recalls to Chris Cuomo in an exclusive interview (embedded at the bottom of this post) that the shooter “shot [victims] in the head” as he walked by people “on the ground” and “praying in Spanish.” Yes—it’s that disturbing.

As Grant, who was ultimately shot in the back but survived, tells CNN from a hospital bed in Del Sol Medical Center, shoppers begged the shooter not to kill them as he opened fire in the parking lot, then roamed the Walmart itself.

“He had no remorse for their lives at all,” Grant, who says he threw bottles at the gunman in an attempt to deter him, stated. Make no mistake: This was an act of heroism. According to Grant, the shooter only noticed him because he was throwing the bottles—Grant, conceivably, could have hidden and run without drawing attention to himself, but he wanted to do his best to stop the massacre.

"I was like, oh my God, this guy is shooting at me," Grant told Cuomo, describing the moment he realized he had the shooter’s attention on him. It was when he ducked from a bullet—only to be shot in the back anyway—that he was trapped on the floor, watching others beg for their lives in Spanish. Somehow, Grant was able to get himself back up. He ran to the auto department while the gunman went to the bank, near the store’s restrooms.

Cuomo asked if Grant could see the shooter’s face. Grant says that he could, and described the man’s khaki pants and shooting glasses. "I could just tell he was prepared," Grant said.

At the auto department, Grant found U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Donna Sifford, who had left her firearm at home that today. He told her about the shooter inside the store before Sifford and two Walmart employees got him into a truck and rushed him to the local hospital.

Here’s the video of Grant’s recount of this traumatic event:

YouTube Video

And if you can bear it—trigger warnings abound here—a video from inside the Walmart at the time of the shooting. Not taken by Grant, but for context:

YouTube Video

Grant is undoubtedly a hero. Now it’s time for our elected officials to follow suit and be heroes, too; by taking real action for gun reform. No more thoughts and prayers.

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