FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas man has pleaded guilty to hate crime charges for attacking an Asian family, slashing open the face of a 6-year-old child with a knife during the 2020 assault in a store.
The Midland man also punched the father of the child and attacked a Sam's Club Warehouse employee because he wanted to kill the 6-year-old and the worker was preventing him from doing so, authorities said.
Jose Gomez III, 21, of Midland admitted that he believed the Asian family was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic because he thought they were Chinese.
Gomez pleaded guilty to three counts of committing a hate crime.
The Midland man faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on each charge and a $250,000 fine.
"An Asian family was shopping when the defendant brutally attacked them because of their race and because he blamed them for the COVID-19 pandemic," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in a Wednesday news release. "Racially motivated hate crimes targeting the Asian-American community are on the rise and have no place in our society today."
The attack occurred March 14, 2020, at the Sam's Club Warehouse in Midland.
Gomez had entered the store behind an Asian family with young children, a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, according to federal authorities.
The Midland man had never seen the family before, but he believed they were Chinese.
Gomez followed the family and later perceived them to be a threat as they were "from the country who started spreading the disease around," according to federal court documents.
At some point, Gomez left the family to find a serrated steak knife and bent the blade so that when he held the handle to his fist, the blade rested against his knuckles, sharp edge facing outward.
Gomez returned to the Asian family and punched the father, cutting him.
Gomez fled the scene only to retrieve an eight-inch knife from the store, and returned to the Asian family.
The Midland man went straight to the children who were seated in the front basket of a shopping cart. Gomez slashed the 6-year-old's face. Federal authorities said the blade entered millimeters from the child's right eye, split his right ear and wrapped around to the back of his skull.
"The defendant violently and horrifically attacked an unsuspecting innocent family because of how they looked and where he thought they came from," said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff of the Western District of Texas in a prepared statement released Wednesday. "This type of hate-based violence has no place in our society and will not be tolerated."
Gomez also stabbed a white Sam Club's employee who rushed over to stop the Midland man from assaulting the Asian family. While being held down, Gomez yelled at the Asian family, "Get out of America!"
Gomez admitted he had attempted to kill the 6-year-old child, according to federal authorities.
