Texas Shooting Suspect Wrote Anti-Immigrant, Racist Manifesto; Expected to be Killed in Attack

El Paso: Authorities in Texas are studying an extremist manifesto purportedly written by a 21-year-old man taken into custody after 20 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso.

Police confirmed that the man, identified by US media as Patrick Crusius, was the only person in custody. He surrendered to police about a block away from the Walmart.

"Right now we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree, it has a nexus to potential hate crime," police chief Greg Allen said.

The "manifesto" purportedly written by Crusius that was circulated online includes passages railing against the "Hispanic invasion" of Texas and the author makes clear that he expected to be killed during his attack.

The New York Times reported that the document, titled The Inconvenient Truth, also expresses support for the gunman who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand this March.

“In general, I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto. This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas. They are the instigators, not me. I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion,” the NYT quoted from the screed.

Witnesses said the gunman appeared to be shooting at random when he opened fire around 10:30 am.

One woman, who gave her name as Vanessa, said she had just pulled into the Walmart parking lot when the shooting began.

"You could hear the pops, one right after another and at that point as I was turning, I saw a lady, seemed she was coming out of Walmart, headed to her car. She had her groceries in her cart and I saw her just fall," she told Fox News.

The witness said the gunman wore black t-shirt, combat trousers and was wearing ear muffs.

"He was just shooting randomly. It wasn't to any particular person. It was any that would cross paths."

Another shopper described how he managed to avoid being hit by hiding along with his mother between two vending machines just outside the store.

"That's where the individual tried to shoot at me, which he missed cause I kind of ducked down," Robert Curado told the El Paso Times.

A still captured from CCTV showed the gunman carrying what appeared to be an AK-47.