Texas man Jose Gomez who slashed face of child in knife attack on Asian family pleads guilty to hate crime
- Texas man pleads guilty to three hate-crime counts for knife attack on Myanmese family in 2020
- Man said he blamed China for the Covid-19 pandemic and mistook the family for Chinese
A Texas man has pleaded guilty to hate crime charges for attacking an Asian family, slashing open the face of a six-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 child and the worker was preventing him from doing so, authorities said.
Jose Gomez, 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. He faces man faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on each charge and a US$250,000 fine.
In court documents, Gomez admitted following the family into the store, taking a knife from a store display and slashing Bawi Cung, his six-year-old son and a store employee who tried to intervene.
Gomez said he blamed China for the Covid-19 pandemic and mistook the Myanmese family for Chinese. He said he perceived the family to be a “threat” as they were “from the country who started spreading that disease around”.