EL PASO, Texas >> The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at a Walmart in El Paso — one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history — pleaded guilty Monday to capital murder in a state district court.

Judge Sam Medrano told 26-year-old Patrick Crusius he failed in his attack on a community that would have welcomed him “with open arms.”

“You came to inflict terror, to take innocent lives, and to shatter a community that had done nothing but stand for kindness, unity and love. You slaughtered fathers, mothers, sons and daughters,” Medrano said.

“Now as you begin the rest of your life locked away, remember this: your mission failed,” he continued.

— The Associated Press