The 19-year-old Texas man who admitted to stabbing three Asian American family members, including a 2-year-old and 6-year-old, over fears they were infecting people with the coronavirus, is being charged with a hate crime, reports ABC News.
Jose L. Gomez III, 19, on March 17 was charged with three counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after attacking the family at a Sam’s Club in Midland, Texas, three days earlier, according to an FBI report.
“The suspect indicated that he stabbed the family because he thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus,” the report said.
The incident was among a swell of hate crimes against Asian-Americans across the country noted in an FBI report recently obtained by ABC News.
"The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to the spread of coronavirus disease … endangering Asian American communities," according to the report, which was compiled by the FBI’s Houston office and distributed to local law enforcement agencies across the country. "The FBI makes this assessment based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations."
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