ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man who shot at two convenience stores hoping to kill Arab and Black people has been sentenced to serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal hate crime charge.
Larry Edward Foxworth, 48, fired a Glock pistol multiple times through the windows and doors of two convenience stores in Jonesboro, just south of Atlanta, shortly before 3 a.m. on July 30, 2021, the U.S. attorney's office in Atlanta said in a news release. Both stores were open and people were inside, but no one was hit.
Clayton County police arrested Foxworth shortly after the shots were fired. He told investigators he wanted to kill Arab and Black people and believed that's who was inside those two stores, the release says. He said he hoped he had killed people and expressed belief in white supremacy.
“He fired repeatedly into convenience stores in his effort to kill those inside based solely on the color of their skin," U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said in the release. “This abhorrent act of violence and intimidation left the victims, their families, and the community traumatized, and merits the prison sentence Foxworth received.”
Foxworth was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in December to a charge of a hate crime based on actual or perceived race or color and a charge of discharging a firearm during the commission of that crime of violence.
The judge sentenced him to serve five years of supervised release after his prison term and also ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution.
