Spotsylvania County Man Sentenced To Prison For Hate Crime Shooting

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VA — A Spotsylvania County man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of shooting two men because he believed they were from another country.

Douglas Wayne Cornett was sentenced on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to two federal hate crime charges, each involving an attempt to kill, and to discharging a firearm during a federal crime of violence, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

“No one in this country should be hunted down and shot at because of who they are or where they come from,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “This sentence reflects the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to protecting communities from hate-fueled violence and to hold accountable those who attack others based on prejudice.”

According to court documents, on the evening of Feb. 28, 2024, Cornett followed a box truck driven by one of the victims, a Latino man, into a Sheetz gas station along Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County.

Cornett then asked the second victim, a Latino man and friend of the first victim, how long the other man had been present in the United States. Upon learning that the first victim had arrived within the last two years, Cornett drew a handgun and fired six rounds, striking the first victim three times and the second victim once.

Cornett later confessed to a Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Deputy to shooting the victims because of his perception of their national origin.

The Richmond Field Office of the FBI investigated the case with substantial assistance from the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.