(UTV|COLOMBO) – A shooting at a supermarket in the US state of Texas that left 20 dead is being investigated as domestic terrorism, officials say.
A 21-year-old white man was arrested at the scene of the attack in the city of El Paso, near the US-Mexico border.
He is believed to have posted an online document calling the attack a response to “the Hispanic invasion of Texas”.
Police on Sunday said he had been charged with capital murder, meaning he could face the death penalty.
US President Donald Trump has said “perhaps more has to be done” to prevent mass shootings following the El Paso attack and another in Ohio 13 hours later in which nine people, including the gunman’s sister, were killed.
“Hate has no place in our country, and we are going to take care of it,” he told reporters on Sunday. “This has been going on for years, for years and years in our country and we have to get it stopped.”
The president went on to link both attacks to a “mental illness problem”.
“If you look at both of these cases, this is mental illness. These are people who are very, very seriously mentally ill,” he said.
But critics argue that the roots of the two massacres lie in the president’s language about immigrants and Mexicans in particular, and his opposition to gun control.
The El Paso gunman opened fire on a crowded Walmart on Saturday with an assault-style rifle and surrendered after being confronted by police officers outside the store. Twenty-six people were injured in the shooting. (Foreign Media Reports)
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