ROBERT MOORE/El Paso Matters El Paso Matters周四向州法院提起诉讼，请求法官解除对埃尔帕索警方和检方掌握的2019年沃尔玛大规模枪击案记录的近乎全面的保密状态。
ROBERT MOORE/El Paso Matters El Paso Matters filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a state judge to lift a blanket of near-total secrecy on records in the 2019 Walmart mass shooting held by El Paso police and prosecutors.
该请愿书寻求一项强制令，即法官命令政府官员履行法律规定的强制性法定职责。
The petition seeks a writ of mandamus, an order from a judge to a government official to perform a mandatory legal duty required by law.
El Paso Matters请求法官命令地区检察官办公室和埃尔帕索市，根据《德克萨斯州公共信息法》的规定，公开沃尔玛大规模枪击案调查的侦查记录。该案件已分配给第243地区法院法官Selena Solis审理。
El Paso Matters is asking a judge to order the District Attorney’s Office and the city of El Paso to make investigative records from the Walmart mass shooting investigation available to the public as outlined in the Texas Public Information Act. The case was assigned to 243rd District Court Judge Selena Solis.
在过去18个月中，德克萨斯州总检察长办公室作出多项裁决，称公众永远不应获取现代美国历史上针对西班牙裔最致命大规模枪击案的侦查记录。总检察长办公室同意市政府和地区检察官的论点，认为该大规模枪击案调查属于《德克萨斯州家庭法典》规定的儿童虐待调查，此类调查的记录属于机密。
The Texas Attorney General’s Office issued several rulings over the past 18 months that said the public should never have access to investigative records in the deadliest mass shooting targeting Hispanics in modern U.S. history. The Attorney General’s Office agreed with arguments from the city and district attorney that the mass shooting investigation was a child abuse investigation under the Texas Family Code, and records of such investigations are confidential.
El Paso Matters的诉讼主张，该决定基于对德克萨斯州法律的误读。
The El Paso Matters lawsuit asserts that the decision is based on a misreading of Texas law.
诉状称：“（Patrick）Crusius的调查和起诉并不涉及对涉嫌或疑似儿童虐待或疏忽的调查。此外，所请求的信息并非在第261章（家庭法典）规定的调查中产生，因此不受第261章保密条款的约束。”
“(T)he investigation and prosecution of (Patrick) Crusius did not concern an investigation of alleged or suspected child abuse or neglect. Furthermore, the information requested was not developed in an investigation under Chapter 261 (the Family Code) and therefore is not subject to Chapter 261 withholding,” the lawsuit alleges.
埃尔帕索地区检察官詹姆斯·蒙托亚在一份声明中说，他的办公室“根据德克萨斯州法律处理所有公开记录请求，包括在所请求的信息或记录可能或必须不予公开披露时，向总检察长办公室寻求裁决。我们认识到，2019年8月3日的事件仍沉重地压在我们社区心头，尤其是受害者及其家属，在我们继续就哪些信息可以或可能公开披露进行诉讼时，我们始终铭记这一事实。”市政府官员拒绝置评，因为此事涉及正在进行的诉讼。
In a statement, El Paso District Attorney James Montoya said his office “handles all open record requests in accordance with Texas law, including seeking rulings from the Office of the Attorney General when the information or records requested may or are required to be withheld from public disclosure. We recognize that the events of Aug. 3, 2019, continue to weigh heavily on our community, most especially the victims and their families, as we remain cognizant of that fact as we continue to litigate what information may or may be publicly disclosed.”City officials declined to comment because the matter involves pending litigation.
埃尔帕索事务报在其动议中由南卫理公会大学德德曼法学院第一修正案诊所代理，并获得记者自由新闻委员会的支持。
El Paso Matters is represented in its motion by the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law First Amendment Clinic, with support from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
根据德克萨斯州法律，警方和检察官掌握的调查记录通常在调查和审判结束后被视为公开记录。一个主要例外是根据《家庭法典》进行的儿童虐待调查。
Under Texas law, records held by police and prosecutors about investigations generally are considered public records after the investigation and trials are complete. One major exception are child abuse investigations that are conducted under the Family Code.
2019年8月3日在西耶洛维斯塔沃尔玛超市发生的大规模枪击案造成23人死亡、22人受伤，绝大多数是成年人，其中许多人年龄在60岁或以上。但当新闻机构和其他方面寻求调查记录时，埃尔帕索市和地区检察官办公室均称这些记录涉及儿童虐待调查——一名15岁少年遇害、一名婴儿受伤、商店内还有其他儿童在场——因此根据德克萨斯州法律属于机密。
Adults comprised the vast majority of the 23 people killed and 22 people injured in the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart, many of them in their 60s or older. But when news organizations and others sought investigative records in the shooting, both the city of El Paso and the DA’s Office said the records involved a child abuse investigation – a 15-year-old was killed, an infant injured and other children were present in the store – and are therefore confidential under Texas law.
总检察长办公室——负责审查州和地方政府根据《德克萨斯州公共信息法》被请求披露的记录而提出的保密申请——同意该立场，并下令埃尔帕索市和地区检察官对沃尔玛大规模枪击案的所有调查和起诉记录予以保密。
The Attorney General’s Office – which reviews requests by state and local government to withhold records that are sought under the Texas Public Information Act – agreed with that position and ordered the city and DA to keep secret all investigative and prosecutorial records of the Walmart mass shooting.
得克萨斯州信息自由基金会执行主任凯利·香农表示，总检察长办公室多年来一直错误地适用《家庭法典》，使公众无法获取他们有权了解的犯罪信息。该基金会倡导政府透明。
The Attorney General’s Office has been incorrectly applying the Family Code for years, keeping the public from accessing information about crimes to which it is entitled, said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, which advocates for government transparency.
她说：“《家庭法典》中关于禁止公开公共记录的规定，适用于涉及儿童忽视或虐待指控且有儿童保护服务局介入的照护者情形。”
“The Family Code shielding public records from release applies to caregiver situations in which child neglect or abuse is alleged and Child Protective Services is involved,” she said.
“不幸的是，这一条款正被总检察长办公室曲解，并在没有儿童保护服务局介入的情况下，只要现场有未成年人就被援引，用于非照护者的情形。总检察长办公室特意将这一《家庭法典》条款适用于此类公共记录。在埃尔帕索案中，沃尔玛大规模枪击案发生时店内的儿童没有一个是儿童保护服务局案件的当事人。他们只是店里的孩子，而且不幸的是，他们亲历了那场可怕的袭击。”总检察长办公室未回应《埃尔帕索要闻》的置评请求。
“Unfortunately, this provision is being misconstrued by the Attorney General’s Office and invoked in non-caregiver situations any time a minor is present, when CPS is not even involved. The AG’s Office goes out of its way to apply this Family Code provision to these kinds of public records. In the El Paso case, none of the children present in the Walmart during the mass shooting were part of a Child Protective Services case. They were just kids in the store, and, sadly, they were present during the horrific attack.”The Attorney General’s Office didn’t respond to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.
市政府和地方检察官尚未公开沃尔玛大规模枪击案的任何调查记录。负责沃尔玛枪击案联邦调查的联邦调查局，尚未提供《埃尔帕索要闻》根据联邦《信息自由法》所请求的记录。
The city and DA have not made public any investigative records from the Walmart mass shooting. The FBI, which handled the federal investigation of the Walmart shooting, has not yet provided records requested by El Paso Matters under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
现年27岁的帕特里克·克鲁修斯于2023年对联邦仇恨犯罪和武器指控认罪，并于2025年对州一级的死刑谋杀和加重袭击指控认罪。两次认罪均发生在检察官决定不寻求死刑之后，他目前正在服数十项不得假释的终身监禁刑期。
Patrick Crusius, now 27, pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in 2023, and to state capital murder and aggravated assault charges in 2025. Both pleas came after prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty, and he is serving dozens of sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
在认罪协议中，克鲁修斯的律师承认，他实施袭击是为了阻止他所认为的“德克萨斯州的西班牙裔入侵”。由于没有进行审判，且埃尔帕索警方和检察官未公开调查记录，公众对袭击案证据的了解有限。
In his guilty pleas, Crusius’ attorneys admitted that he acted in an effort to stop what he saw as “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”Because there was no trial, and the El Paso police and prosecutors have not released investigative records, the public has received limited information about the evidence in the attack.
“公众当然有权了解沃尔玛枪击案期间发生了什么。我们需要知道它是如何发生的，哪些保障措施可能失效了，以及执法部门是如何应对的。调查记录有助于回答这些问题，”香农说。“正如我们需要了解2022年尤瓦尔迪学校枪击案发生了什么一样，公众理所当然地对埃尔帕索大规模枪击案仍存疑问。这些问题的答案或许有助于防止未来发生类似悲剧。”
“The public certainly has a right to know what happened during the Walmart shooting. We need to know how it happened, what safeguards might have failed and how law enforcement responded. Investigative records can help answer these questions,” Shannon said. “Just as we need to know what occurred in the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, the public understandably has lingering questions about the El Paso mass shooting. Answers to these questions might help to prevent a tragedy like this in the future.”
埃尔帕索事务组织提交的请愿书主张，沃尔玛大规模枪击案调查并非《家庭法典》所规定的儿童虐待调查，因此不能作为扣留案件所有记录的法律依据。根据诉状，《家庭法典》适用于德克萨斯州家庭与保护服务部认定涉及“负责儿童照料、监护或福利的人员”的虐待或疏忽调查。
诉状称：“埃尔帕索事务组织请求的记录涉及帕特里克·克鲁修斯实施公共枪击引发的凶杀调查。值得注意的是，克鲁修斯与受害者没有任何关系，包括任何照料关系。”
The petition from El Paso Matters asserts that the Walmart mass shooting investigation was not a child abuse investigation as spelled out in the Family Code, and can’t be used as a legal reason to withhold all records in the case. The Family Code applies to investigations of abuse or neglect that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services believes involve “a person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare,” according to the lawsuit“The records requested by El Paso Matters concerned a homicide investigation arising from a public shooting by Patrick Crusius. Notably, Crusius had no relationship with the victims, including any caregiving relationship,” the lawsuit said.
今年早些时候，埃尔帕索事务组织依据《德克萨斯州公共信息法案》，向家庭与保护服务部请求提供任何显示该部门曾参与与沃尔玛大规模枪击案有关的儿童虐待调查的记录。作为回应，该部门未提供任何记录，仅指向其在线政策手册和年度数据报告——这两者均未提及该大规模枪击案。
Using the Texas Public Information Act, El Paso Matters asked the Department of Family and Protective Services earlier this year for any records that indicated it had been involved in a child abuse investigation in connection with the Walmart mass shooting. In response, the department provided no records and pointed to its online policy handbook and its annual data reports – neither of which mention the mass shooting.
“立法机构将第261章调查记录列为机密，是为了保护举报虐待行为的人，以及作为虐待调查对象的儿童和家庭，”埃尔帕索事务报的诉讼称。“在此案中扣留这些记录无助于实现上述任何目的：没有报告任何儿童虐待行为，没有涉及任何照护者，也没有进行任何儿童保护调查。”得克萨斯州公共安全部——在枪击案调查中发挥了辅助作用——去年应一家YouTube频道的记录请求，公布了一段警方审讯克鲁修斯的视频，同时还公布了一段联邦调查局汇编商店监控录像以追踪枪手行踪的视频。
“The Legislature made the records of Chapter 261 investigations confidential to protect those who report abuse and the child and families who are the subject of abuse investigations,” the El Paso Matters lawsuit said. “Withholding the records here advances none of those purposes: no child abuse was reported, no caregiver is implicated, and no child protective investigation occurred.”The Texas Department of Public Safety – which played a supporting role in the shooting investigation – last year released a video of the police interrogation of Crusius in response to a records request from a YouTube channel, along with a video in which the FBI compiled store camera footage to trace the gunman’s movements.
公共安全部——该部门并未就它是否可以扣留所请求的信息寻求总检察长裁决——还公布了数十张血腥的犯罪现场照片。
DPS – which did not seek an attorney general ruling on whether it could withhold requested information – also released dozens of gruesome crime scene photos.
YouTube频道“审讯档案”将与埃尔帕索事务报及其他媒体分享了从公共安全部收到的视频和照片。埃尔帕索事务报利用这些信息制作了一篇还原枪击事件的报道，但没有公布敏感的视频或照片证据。
The YouTube channel, Interrogation Files , shared the video and photos received from DPS with El Paso Matters and other media. El Paso Matters used the information for a story reconstructing the shooting , but didn’t publish sensitive video or photo evidence.
披露：2019年，埃尔帕索事务报是沃尔玛在埃尔帕索捐赠日活动期间提供的5000美元配捐资助的受助方之一。地区法官塞莱娜·索利斯一直是埃尔帕索事务报的财务支持者。财务支持者在埃尔帕索事务报的新闻报道中不扮演任何角色。该新闻机构的编辑独立性政策可在此处查阅。
Disclosure: In 2019, El Paso Matters was among recipients of $5,000 matching grants from Walmart during the El Paso Giving Day campaign. District Judge Selena Solis has been a financial supporter of El Paso Matters. Financial supporters play no role in El Paso Matters’ journalism. The news organization’s policy on editorial independence can be found here .