Death toll grows to 22 from Saturday’s El Paso mass shooting

Two more victims of the mass shooting at a crowded El Paso Walmart died Monday morning, raising the death toll for the attack to 22.

Officials at Del Sol Medical Center said the two patients died early Monday at the hospital — nearly two days after the shooting.

“We are deeply saddened to tell you that two patients passed away overnight,” Dr. Stephen Flaherty told a news conference. (You can watch the entire news conference in the video player below.)

He said one of the patients who died at the hospital had major internal abdominal injuries affecting the liver, kidneys and intestines. That patient also received a “massive blood transfusion,” Flaherty said.

Both patients suffered “major and devastating” wounds that were consistent with high-velocity gun shots, he added.

The hospital didn’t release the names or ages of the two patients who died Monday, but hospital officials described one as an elderly woman. The Mexican government identified the other as a Mexican National.

Police also haven’t released a list of the victims of Saturday’s attack, but ABC-7 is compiling an ongoing list based on confirmation from families and other official sources.

News of the latest deaths came just hours after the El Paso County Coroner’s Officer removed the last the victims’ bodies from the Walmart store and parking lot.

Federal authorities have called the shootings “domestic terrorism” and said they are weighing hate-crime charges against the suspected gunman that could carry the death penalty. The suspect, 21-year old Patrick Crusius, has been booked on state capital murder charges, and the district attorney has announced he will seek the death penalty.

According to court paperwork reviewed by ABC-7, Crusius has now requested a lawyer through the public defender’s office.

At 22, the death toll from Saturday’s massacre is just one shy of the total number of homicides recorded in El Paso last year.

Including the El Paso attack and another attack Saturday in Ohio that killed nine people, a total of 126 people have died in mass shootings in America so far this year. The El Paso incident is now the seventh deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history.

Since 2006, 12 mass shootings — including the El Paso shooting — have been committed by men who are 21 or younger.

(The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.)