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El Paso shooting timeline How the El paso times reported a mass shooting on saturday, aug. 3, 2019 that left 22 dead

Early in the morning of Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, a four-page manifesto filled with anti-immigrant rhetoric is posted to the anonymous message board 8chan. The document warned of an impending attack. Authorities say Patrick Wood Crusius, the man who wrote that manifesto, then drove several hours from Tyler, Texas to El Paso. Within minutes after his arrival, 22 people were dead and scores wounded; Crusius was swiftly arrested without incident. Here is how the staff of the El Paso Times responded to that event and supported its community in the days and weeks that followed.

DAY 1: SATURDAY, AUG. 3, 2019

11:03 a.m. El Paso Police Department reports active shooter in area of Hawkins-Gateway East, near the Cielo Vista Mall.

11:10 a.m. Content Editor Sam Gaytan confirms shooting, notifies staff of major breaking news event, sends reporter Vic Kolenc from Town Hall meeting and photographer Mark Lambie to the area to confirm the location.

11:18 a.m. Content Editor Sam Gaytan files story: El Paso police report active shooter at Walmart at Cielo Vista Mall. (Our staff pinpointed the location of the shooting, important because shooter was still at large and other media was reporting the shooting had also occurred at Cielo Vista Mall.)

11:28 a.m. El Paso Times sends out its first push alert on the location of the shooting; live updates begin.

11:33 a.m. @elpasotimes posts on Twitter, Facebook: El Paso Police Report active shooter at Walmart at Cielo Vista Mall.

11:41 a.m. More Times journalists arrive; Photographer Mark Lambie tweets video: "Huge medical response to active shooter at Walmart at Cielo Vista."

11:51 a.m. Reporter Daniel Borunda sent to University Medical Center, confirms families are arriving and extra staff is being called to work.

11:55 a.m. Family reunification center opens. Photographer Mark Lambie tweets “A family reunification center will be set up for families at Ponder Park near the active shooter incident at Cielo Vista Walmart.”

12:02 p.m. Police search for gunman. Active shooter alert remains in place. Photographer Mark Lambie tweets "Police still looking for shooter. Telling everyone to shelter in place."

12:23 p.m. Photographer Mark Lambie tweets: "Law enforcement interviewing witnesses. Looking for shooter's descriptions."

12:26 p.m. Multiple deaths confirmed as well as shooting location being limited to the Walmart store. Police report that 18 adults and four children are dead.

12:37 p.m. El Paso Times reports: "Mall shooting death toll may be 18 adults, four kids."

12:47 p.m. Family members start to re-unite near Ponder Park, a block away from the Walmart store. Aaron Montez tweets: "Rebecca Rivas in El Paso an hour after she says an active shooter entered a Walmart. Her mother says, "Mija, you are alive."

1:17 p.m. University Medical Center confirms multiple shooting victims and multiple deaths. Reporter Daniel Borunda, the only reporter at the trauma center, tweets that a hospital spokesman said "UMC of El Paso has received at least 11 shooting victims, some have died."

1:28 p.m. We post story on how citizens can offer help -- or get help themselves.

1:58 p.m. El Paso Times confirms the arrest of shooting suspect Patrick Wood Crusius. The report is immediately picked up by USA TODAY.

2:03 p.m. Reporter Aaron Martinez posts interview with Walmart employee Leslie Diaz – “I was working at the self-checkout near the main entrance and then all I heard is loud gunshots. It was far away meaning they were outside. Then they started getting closer and closer that’s when I see everybody running and running. I then heard even louder gunshots.”

2:10 p.m. El Paso Times receives a video taken at 11:14 a.m. of victims near the Walmart entrance. We decide to hold the video. The videos were reviewed and some details were reported, but the content that included dead bodies and wounded shoppers was too graphic. We did include descriptions of what is shown in the running news story.

2:12 p.m. El Paso Times receives a copy of the shooter's manifesto. The full document was never shared because we believed its distribution would provide too large a platform for his white supremacist ideology. We also held his arrest photo for fear of giving him too much publicity.

2:47 p.m. First photo gallery with images from the shooting scene is posted.

5 p.m. Major update to running story. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the number of dead, injured and provides background on the shooter. Police announce hate crime connection to the shooter.

7:40 p.m. Funeral homes announce free services for shooting victims.

9:02 p.m. Families reunite and wait for news after shooting.

RECAP: Our team posted 50 updates to the main story by late Saturday evening, Aug. 3; the complete story published in our Sunday, Aug. 4 edition.

DAY 2: SUNDAY, AUG. 4, 2019

10 a.m. Editorial: This is not who we are, El Paso - Live coverage begins again; city holds first major news briefing including police, FBI and U.S. attorney's office.

10:30 a.m. Police link hate-filled, racist essay to gunman. Story is updated throughout the morning and early afternoon.

12:30 p.m. Sheriff: Gunman came "to kill Hispanics"

1:49 p.m. Neighbors of suspect stunned by shooting

4:55 p.m. Clint Independent School District mourns shooting victim

9:53 p.m. Seeking answers after devastation: Community members attend vigils, mourn victims

DAY 3: MONDAY, AUG. 5, 2019

4:42 p.m. Officials release names of victims: Know their names, learn their stories

8:31 p.m. Shooting suspect got lost, stopped to eat before Walmart attack, chief says

DAY 4: TUESDAY, AUG. 6, 2019

11:16 a.m. Mexico's top diplomat visits victims

8:04 p.m. Family grieves for couple killed protecting baby

8:05 p.m. Man mourns nephew, youngest victim of El Paso shooting

DAY 5: WEDNESDAY, AUG. 7, 2019

12:01 a.m. Editorial: Mr. President, We are hurting: An open letter to President Trump, including a full list of the 22 people from El Paso and Juarez who were killed in the mass shooting.

11:35 a.m. Walmart memorial is El Paso grieving hub.

12:08 p.m. ‘You are not welcome here’ Hundreds gather to protest Trump visit

1:23 p.m. First funeral: Services are held in Juarez, Mexico for Elsa Mendoza de la Mora, the first El Paso shooting victim to be buried.

2:38 p.m. Trump visits prompting anger, debate: Dayton and El Paso grapple with grief, yearn for solutions. The President's visit to El Paso is controversial, with members of the community holding separate memorials. We break news that no hospitalized mass shooting survivors agreed to meet with Trump. There are confrontations at the makeshift Walmart memorial; police ask visitors to show some respect at the sacred site.

DAY 6: THURSDAY, AUG. 8, 2019

1:42 p.m. Walmart store manager vows to return after attack

2:20 p.m. President Trump arrives in El Paso: Five survivors decline to meet with him

4:01 p.m. Victims Relief Fund: More than $1.6 million in aid raised

4:17 p.m. City considers security requirementNo security guard was present at the Walmart shooting that killed 22.

8:30 p.m. "He would tell us to never give up" First U.S. shooting victim buried

DAY 7: FRIDAY, AUG. 9, 2019

12:49 p.m. Affidavit: Walmart suspect said: ‘I’m the shooter’

3:20 p.m. Will shooting shift Texas gun debate? State rep. says love affair with guns is 'yesterday's thinking'

5 p.m. Walmart shooting suspect drove long road to terror

DAY 8: SATURDAY, AUG. 10, 2019

11:23 a.m. Inside the El Paso shooting: A store manager, a frantic father, grateful survivors -- how the shooting at an El Paso Walmart unfolded through the eyes of those who were there

7:06 p.m. VIDEO: El Paso activist talks about experience at Walmart during shooting

DAY 9: SUNDAY, AUG. 11, 2019

1:12 p.m. Ballads sound sorrowful note, unite community: El Paso grieves through border music, art

FRIDAY, AUG. 16, 2019

8:27 a.m. After El Paso, Latinos across America voice a new kind of fear

9:03 p.m. El Paso helps widower say goodbye to victim

SUNDAY, AUG. 24, 2019

2:29 p.m. The politics of calling out white supremacy

THURSDAY, OCT. 3, 2019

6 a.m. Opinion: The U.S. of US: Richard Blanco, an inaugural poet for President Barack Obama, wrote this poem for the USA TODAY Network. This work reflects his view of how Latinos are feeling in America in the wake of the shooting in El Paso and seeks "to celebrate our incredible contributions ... as an antidote for the fear and isolation we are feeling and fighting right now."

THURSDAY, OCT. 24, 2019

8 a.m. Aftermath of a tragedy: Texas remains the state with most mass shooting deaths. Here is how the incidents have changed the state.

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Mizell Stewart III
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El Paso Times

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