Man pleads guilty to hate crime charges in attack of Asian family he blamed for pandemic

A Texas man has pleaded guilty to three hate crime charges after he attacked an Asian family because he believed they were responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), on March 14, 2020 Jose Gomez III went into a Sam’s Club Warehouse in Midland, Texas, behind an Asian family with young children, who he had never seen and believed to be Chinese.

After following the family around the store, Gomez went to find a serrated steak knife, which he bent so the blade rested against his knuckles, according to the DOJ. The deparment said he then approached the family and punched the father in the face, slashing him.

Gomez, 21, then left to get another knife, which the DOJ said he used to attack the family’s two young children who were seated in the shopping cart. They were 6 and 2 years old at the time of the incident. According to the DOJ, Gomez proceeded to slash the six-year-old child’s face, with the wound starting just millimeters away from the child’s eye, splitting their ear and wrapping around their skull.

Per the DOJ, he also stabbed a white Sam’s Club employee — later identified as Zack Owen by local media — who intervened and was able to subdue and hold Gomez down to the ground, despite sustaining multiple stab wounds and lacerations.

According to the DOJ, Gomez admitted to attempting to kill the 6-year-old child and also to stabbing Owen for trying to stop him from doing so. The department said he also admitted he believed the family was Chinese and blamed them for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Racially motivated hate crimes targeting the Asian American community are on the rise and have no place in our society today. All people deserve to feel safe and secure living in their communities, regardless of race, color or national origin,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

Gomez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for each offense and a $250,000 fine.