Texas Man Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For Attack On Asian Family They Blamed For Pandemic

Gomez saw a Burmese family with three young children enter a Sam’s Club in Midland, Texas, in March 2020, and, believing them to be Chinese, followed them into the store, according to federal prosecutors. Gomez grabbed kitchen knives sold at the store and attacked the family, slashing the father and a child who was 6 at the time, according to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors said Thursday that the knife’s blade entered the child’s right eye, sliced ​​through his ear and cut the back of his head. A store employee who intervened was also stabbed in the leg, according to prosecutors. As the suspect was held to the ground, prosecutors said, he yelled at the Asian family — “Get out of America!” Gomez later admitted to authorities that he had attacked the family and that he targeted the father and “who I think was from the country that started spreading the disease around.” Gomez told authorities he intended to kill the father and also admitted targeting the children, the complaint said. Hate crimes in the US have increased since the start of the pandemic, including attacks on Asian Americans, who are often brutally – and sometimes fatally – targeted and wrongly blamed for the pandemic. “We hope that today’s sentence will help the victims in the healing process,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey said in a statement. “Rest assured, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will aggressively pursue anyone who commits these violent acts to ensure that the civil rights of all Americans are protected.”

title: “Texas Man Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For Attack On Asian Family They Blamed For Pandemic " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Jared Lehman”

Gomez saw a Burmese family with three young children enter a Sam’s Club in Midland, Texas, in March 2020, and, believing them to be Chinese, followed them into the store, according to federal prosecutors. Gomez grabbed kitchen knives sold at the store and attacked the family, slashing the father and a child who was 6 at the time, according to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors said Thursday that the knife’s blade entered the child’s right eye, sliced ​​through his ear and cut the back of his head. A store employee who intervened was also stabbed in the leg, according to prosecutors. As the suspect was held to the ground, prosecutors said, he yelled at the Asian family — “Get out of America!” Gomez later admitted to authorities that he had attacked the family and that he targeted the father and “who I think was from the country that started spreading the disease around.” Gomez told authorities he intended to kill the father and also admitted targeting the children, the complaint said. Hate crimes in the US have increased since the start of the pandemic, including attacks on Asian Americans, who are often brutally – and sometimes fatally – targeted and wrongly blamed for the pandemic. “We hope that today’s sentence will help the victims in the healing process,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey said in a statement. “Rest assured, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will aggressively pursue anyone who commits these violent acts to ensure that the civil rights of all Americans are protected.”