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MIDLAND, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A Texas man has been sentenced to 25 years in jail for attacking an Asian household in 2020 as a result of he thought they have been Chinese language and subsequently accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with federal court docket data
Jose Gomez III, 21, of Midland, Texas, was sentenced Thursday after pleading responsible to a few counts of committing a hate crime.
When pleading responsible in March, Gomez admitted that he used a knife to slash Bawi Cung and his six and two-year-old sons inside a Sam’s Membership in Midland as a result of he believed they have been Chinese language and spreading the coronavirus. Bawi Cung is from Myanmar.
The March 2020 assault occurred as Asians confronted verbal harassment and bodily assaults throughout the US after the virus started spreading nationwide.
Gomez didn’t know the household when he adopted them inside the shop, federal authorities mentioned in a press release. He adopted them for a number of minutes as a result of he perceived them to be a “menace” as a result of they have been “from the nation who began spreading that illness round,” in line with the assertion.
Gomez then bought a serrated steak knife and slashed the three earlier than a Sam’s Membership worker intervened, stopping the assault as he yelled, “Get out of America,” prosecutors mentioned. The worker was additionally stabbed as nicely.
The 21-year-old acknowledged he had stabbed the worker as a result of he was stopping him from killing the six-year-old little one.
“Pandemic-driven and racially-motivated acts of violence are deplorable crimes, and the Justice Division stands prepared to make use of our hate crimes legal guidelines to carry perpetrators accountable,” mentioned Kristen Clarke, the assistant lawyer basic for civil rights on the U.S. Division of Justice. “Hate crimes concentrating on Asian People have spiked in the course of the pandemic and should be confronted. All individuals should really feel protected and safe dwelling of their communities, no matter race, coloration or nationwide origin.”
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