Federal hate crime expenses announced in opposition to man accused of plotting racist capturing in Georgia

The man allegedly shot into two grocery shops in Jonesboro, Georgia.

19 Could 2022, 13:58

• 3 min read

Hate crime prices have been announced in opposition to a man accused of planning to fatally shoot clients and employees of two Jonesboro, Georgia, comfort stores.

Larry Edward Foxworth allegedly fired a gun repeatedly into two comfort stores at 2:30 a.m. on July 30, 2021. Each stores were open for business.

The indictment alleges that Foxworth, who is white, was motivated to shoot into the shops because of the perceived race, color or nationwide origin of the people inside the stores.

“No person must be afraid to buy or go to work in our community. Nor should folks have to fret that they may be violently attacked because of the color of their pores and skin,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Ok. Buchanan mentioned in a statement.

Foxworth was charged with two counts of committing a federal hate crime and discharging a firearm to commit a violent crime. He has not but entered a plea.

He's being charged below the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act, which makes it a federal crime to willfully cause bodily harm, or try to do so using a harmful weapon because of the victim’s actual or perceived race, shade, religion or national origin.

Clayton County is a predominantly Black group, making up 72.8% of the population, in accordance with the U.S. Census Bureau.

The charges against Foxworth come in the wake of the mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.

The 18-year-old suspect in Buffalo shot and killed 10 individuals, injuring three others, in what authorities have described as a racially motivated rampage.

“Hate-fueled violence has no place in a civilized society,” Assistant Lawyer General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division mentioned. “Thankfully no one was injured by the conduct alleged in this case, but the Justice Department is committed to utilizing all the instruments in our regulation enforcement arsenal to prosecute allegations of hate crimes.”

U.S. Assistant Lawyer General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke speaks throughout a news conference on the Department of Justice, Aug. 5, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

This is the first time in about eight years that hate crime prices have been filed in the Northern District of Georgia, a spokesperson for the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace told ABC News.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Clayton County Police Department.

ABC Information' Luke Barr contributed to this report.