Family of woman killed in shooting files lawsuit against Crusius family, 8chan website
The family of a woman killed in the Aug. 3 Walmart mass shooting filed a lawsuit against the suspected shooter, his family and the website where he is believed to have posted a racist, hate-filled manifesto minutes before allegedly killing 22 people. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in El Paso district court and is the first lawsuit to be filed against the parents and grandparents of the suspected shooter Patrick Crusius, 21, or the 8chan anonymous online message board, said El Paso attorney James Scherr, who is representing the family of Angelina Englisbee. "The (Englisbee) family seeks this lawsuit to stop the hate, to send a message to people who are going to travel 600 miles or 1 mile to injure, maim or kill someone because of their national origin, their background, their religion, whatever the case may be, just because they live hate," Scherr said. In addition to John Bryan Crusius, Lori Lynn Crusius, Larry P. Brown and Cynthia B. Brown, the suit names three individuals and companies associated with 8chan as responsible for Crusius' actions Aug. 3. These individuals include James A. Watkins of Sagle, Idaho, who does business as Pacific Internet Exchange, LLC and N T Technology, Inc.; Matthew Prince of San Francisco, who is co-founder and chief executive officer of Cloudflare Inc.; and Frederick Brennan of Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to the original petition filed Tuesday.
The petition alleges that Patrick Crusius, Brennan, Watkins, Prince and Cloudflare "publically [sic] and privately encouraged, promoted, incited, encouraged and inspired 'white racist nationalism', 'nationalism', 'Nazism', and ideological racist fervor, as an unincorporated association, to unite together to fight this 'invasion' of minorities, particularly persons of Hispanic descent." El Paso police believe Crusius posted a four page-long hate-filled rant to 8chan at 10:15 a.m. Aug. 3 that railed against an "invasion" by immigrants to the United States and a political takeover of Texas. The petition also names "John Does 1 through Unknown" as defendants, and Scherr said he has subpoenaed Crusius' computer and cellphone so he can identify who Crusius was in communication with leading up to the shooting and who may have helped Crusius travel from Allen, Texas, to El Paso. The attorney said he anticipates subpoenaing 8chan for evidence.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in El Paso district court and is the first lawsuit to be filed against the parents and grandparents of the suspected shooter Patrick Crusius, 21, or the 8chan anonymous online message board, said El Paso attorney James Scherr, who is representing the family of Angelina Englisbee. "The (Englisbee) family seeks this lawsuit to stop the hate, to send a message to people who are going to travel 600 miles or 1 mile to injure, maim or kill someone because of their national origin, their background, their religion, whatever the case may be, just because they live hate," Scherr said.
In addition to John Bryan Crusius, Lori Lynn Crusius, Larry P. Brown and Cynthia B. Brown, the suit names three individuals and companies associated with 8chan as responsible for Crusius' actions Aug. 3. These individuals include James A. Watkins of Sagle, Idaho, who does business as Pacific Internet Exchange, LLC and N T Technology, Inc.; Matthew Prince of San Francisco, who is co-founder and chief executive officer of Cloudflare Inc.; and Frederick Brennan of Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to the original petition filed Tuesday.
https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/10/29/el-paso-shooting-lawsuit-filed-against-patrick-crusius-family-8-chan/2498562001/