Police in El Paso, Texas, are asking for the public’s help in finding a man who is believed to have saved several people ― including an infant ― during the Walmart massacre earlier this month.
In a call for assistance on Facebook on Thursday, the department hailed the unidentified man as a “hero,” calling his rescue efforts “critical” and adding that “he needs to be identified and interviewed by investigators.”
During the August 3 shooting, a gunman killed 22 people and injured dozens more. Minutes before opening fire, the 21-year-old suspect reportedly shared a white supremacist manifesto online, decrying “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and warning against “race-mixing.” He has been charged with capital murder, and admitted to having targeted Mexicans in the attack.
On Wednesday night, thousands of mourners gathered in the city’s downtown baseball stadium to remember the victims, most of whom had Hispanic surnames and eight of whom were Mexican nationals.
The case is being treated as an act of terror, and authorities are seeking federal hate crime charges. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that the suspect should be extradited to Mexico for a second trial there.