Texan pleads guilty to hate-crime attack on Asian family

Published February 23, 2022 3:53 PM

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has pleaded guilty to hate-crime charges relating to an attack on an Asian family at a warehouse store. In a statement, federal prosecutors say Jose Gomez III could get life imprisonment for his Wednesday guilty plea to three hate-crime counts from his March 2020 attack at a Midland Sam’s Club. The 21-year-old Midland man admitted taking a knife from a store display and slashing Bawi Cung, his 6-year-old son and a store employee who tried to intervene. Gomez said he blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic and mistook the Burmese family for Chinese.

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