El Paso shooting suspect's mother called police concerned about her son's gun ownership

The mother of the El Paso shooting suspect called police in the weeks before the attack concerned that her son couldn't handle possessing an AK-style weapon, CNN and The New York Times report.

The mother of 21-year-old Patrick Crusius made this phone call to authorities before last weekend's mass shooting that left more than 20 people dead because she was "worried about her son owning the weapon given his age, maturity level and lack of experience handling such a firearm," CNN reports, with police now having confirmed the call.

Sergeant Jon Felty spoke about this call to The Associated Press, saying that the suspect's mother was concerned "for the safety of her son" because she worried he was too "emotionally immature" to handle the weapon he recently purchased legally. A lawyer for the family told the Times that she did not voice any concerns that he was a threat and did not give her name or her son's name on the call. CNN reports police received this call on June 27, just over one month prior to the attack on Aug. 3.

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Authorities are currently treating the El Paso shooting as a domestic terrorism case, NBC News reports, with Crusius believed to have written a racist manifesto about a "Hispanic invasion of Texas." In the weeks before the shooting, the Times reports, he had moved out of his grandparents' home, and CNN on Friday reported that he told investigators he targeted El Paso because it would have been "wrong" to attack his hometown of Allen, Texas.

Crusius' family in a statement via the Times said that "there will never be a moment for the rest of our lives when we will forget each and every victim of this senseless tragedy."