Walmart shooting victims’ families speak out

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Families of victims of the August 3rd mass shooting are beginning to speak out after the gag order was lifted last week.

Christopher Morales lost his aunt in the shooting. His mother and grandmother were injured in the shooting as well.

When speaking to the media, Morales said he believes the state trial was unnecessary.

"We wanted the death penalty. We did. We wanted the death penalty, but we're up against the wall."

Morales emphasized that the focus of the incident and the court proceedings should be on the victims and not on the shooter. He put into perspective how the decision to not pursue the death penalty feels for the families.

"You're telling us we could possibly move forward and we could possibly get this over instead of six years? Now, instead of almost eight years, it could possibly be done next month. How does that sound to you guys?"

Morales did say that the decision was "irrelevant" to him. Once Patrick Crusius was federally charged with 90 consecutive life sentences, Morales wanted the case to be over.

"We've been dealing with this for six years. Six years is a big number when you're holding your breath waiting for justice."

His grandma was shot in the stomach and survived the shooting. He believed that pursuing the death penalty would have pushed back the proceedings longer.

"I have a grandmother who's pushing 90 years old, and I want her to see justice. There's a lot of victims who are older, and we don't know how long we're going to have them for."

ABC-7 will have a full report with Morales on ABC-7 at 10.