Virginia man pleads guilty to shooting 2 Latino men ‘because of his perception of their national origin’

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (TCN) — A 58-year-old man faces up to life behind bars for shooting two Latino men in what prosecutors called a hate crime.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Douglas Cornett pleaded guilty on June 18 to two federal hate crimes charges involving attempts to kill and discharging a firearm during a federal crime of violence. Cornett is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13 and faces a mandatory 10-year sentence for the firearms violation and a maximum of life imprisonment for the hate crimes.

According to an initial press release from the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office, on the night of Feb. 28, 2024, deputies responded to a report of a shooting in the Sheetz parking lot in the Thornburg area. Detectives reportedly located two Latino victims suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and they were transported to a local trauma center with severe injuries.

Upon further investigation, authorities reportedly learned that Cornett followed a box truck driven by one of the victims, identified with the initials O.G., into the Sheetz gas station. Prosecutors said Cornett asked the other victim, J.M., how long O.G. had been in the United States.

Cornett reportedly learned O.G. arrived in the United States within the last two years and then shot him three times and J.M. once. According to prosecutors, “Cornett later confessed to a Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Deputy to shooting the victims because of his perception of their national origin.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, “Hate crimes driven by bias against national origin or any other protected characteristic are a direct assault on the principles of equality and justice that define our nation.”

U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia added, “Crimes like Douglas Cornett’s, acts of hate-motivated violence, victimize not just the individual but harm families, communities, and groups by robbing them of their sense of security.”

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