Hate crime plea nets 25 years in attack on family

A Texas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for a racist attack on a family in a Midland Sam’s Club.

Jose Gomez III had pleaded guilty to three counts of committing a hate crime.

The 21-year-old admitted that he tried to kill an Asian father and his two young children at the store in March 2020, believing that they were Chinese and a “threat because they were from the country that started spreading (COVID-19) around,” the Department of Justice said.

“Mr. Gomez’s cowardly and racially motivated actions do not represent our West Texas community,” said Special Agent in Charge Jeffery R. Downey of the FBI El Paso Field Office. “It is our hope today’s sentence will help the victims with the healing process.”

Officials said Gomez entered the Sam’s Club Warehouse behind the family, whom he had never met, and started following them around the store for several minutes.

A federal complaint said that Gomez briefly stopped to ask a store employee where the utensils were located and went to grab a serrated steak knife.

Gomez found the family again and punched the father in the face before cutting him with the knife. He left the family briefly again to return to the utensil aisle and get an 8-inch knife.

On his second attack, Gomez attempted to kill the 6-year-old and 2-year-old children who were sitting in the shopping car.

He slashed open the 6-year-old child’s face, barely missing his right eye, the DOJ said. The wound split his right ear and wrapped around the back of the child’s skull.

Gomez also stabbed a Sam’s Club employee in the leg when they tried to intervene.