From a Justice Division press launch yesterday:
A Dallas man was sentenced immediately to 37 years in jail, with credit score for time served in state custody, following his responsible plea to hate crime costs arising out of a deadly capturing at a automotive restore store.
On Sept. 14, 2023, Anthony Paz Torres, 39, pleaded responsible to 5 federal hate crime counts for killing one particular person and making an attempt to kill 4 others throughout a mass capturing at Omar’s Wheels and Tires in Dallas on Dec. 24, 2015. Torres additionally pleaded responsible to 1 depend of utilizing a firearm to commit the homicide….
In response to court docket paperwork, Torres admitted that a number of days previous to the capturing, he went to Omar’s Wheels and Tires, made anti-Muslim feedback, and pledged that he would come again. When he returned to the enterprise on Dec. 24, 2015, Torres requested clients in the event that they have been Muslim. After being escorted again to his automobile by Omar’s Wheels and Tires staff, Torres discharged his firearm within the course of a number of staff and clients. Torres admitted that he killed one particular person and tried to kill 4 different folks at Omar’s Wheels and Tires as a result of he believed that they have been Muslim.
Simply to be clear, the person who was killed was apparently a bystander (not that this impacts the ethical or authorized gravity of the assault). Additionally, it seems that Paz Torres had already been convicted of homicide in Texas, and sentenced to 35 years in jail (Dallas Morning-Information [Zaeem Shaikh]). “A spokesperson for the legal professional’s workplace mentioned the sentences will run concurrently and do account for time served in state custody.”