August 5, 2022
MIDLAND, TX—The man who stabbed several people, including two children and a Sam’s Club employee back in March 2020 was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison by a federal court, Thursday.
Jose Gomez III stabbed an Asian family, including two children and a Sam’s Club employee on March 14, 2020. The initial attack was because he thought the Asian family was Chinese and responsible for spreading COVID-19.
Gomez III received no fines during the trial. Instead, he received 25 years on the first hate crime count, 10 years on the second hate crime count, and another 10 years on the third hate crime count. All of these will be served concurrently, reports NewsWest9.
According to court documents, Gomez had never seen the family before and attacked them because he believed they were “from the country who started spreading that disease [COVID-19] around.”
The 21-year-old held a knife he found in the store in such a way that the blade rested against his knuckles with the sharp side facing out. He punched the father of the family in the face, cutting him. Gomez then got another knife and attacked the two children—one child was 2 and the other 6.
A Sam’s Club employee, Zach Owens, stepped in and held Gomez down without hesitation. Owens was stabbed in the process. Bernie Ramirez, a Customs and Border Protection agent, also helped hold Gomez down.
While the two men held Gomez down, he yelled “Get out of America!” at the Asian family.
Gomez was later indicted on three counts of committing a hate crime in June of 2020, before pleading guilty to all three counts in February 2020, according to NewsWest9.
Gomez is also facing pending state charges for three counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault pertaining to the Sam’s Club case. Now that federal charges are out of the way, the state of Texas will now proceed with capital murder charges, according to District Attorney Laura Nodolf.
Feature Image via NewsWest9