Man Pleads Guilty To Chasing And Shooting Two Latino Men Due To His 'Anger At Illegal Immigration'

A Virginia man pleaded guilty this week to chasing down and shooting two Latino men thinking they were undocumented immigrants.

Concretely, Douglas W. Cornett pleaded guilty to two counts of federal hate crimes involving attempts to kill and a count of discharging a firearm during a federal crime of violence, according to Border Report.

The incident took place in February 2024, when Cornett was driving on an interstate and ended up behind a truck. He honked at it and remained behind even though the truck sought to let him pass.

After following it to a gas station, the driver of the truck, one of the victims, got off and resorted to a friend of his who spoke English to ask Cornett if there was something wrong. The friend and Cornett had a brief conversation and then the truck driver left the station.

Cornett followed him to an area close to the station, leading the driver to call a friend and tell him someone was following him.

The person who ended up being the second victim asked Cornett why he was following the driver, to which he asked how long he had been in the U.S. The driver said he had been there for a year and a half. Immediately after, Cornett pulled a gun and fired six shots. The driver was hit three times and his friend once. He then left and told people at home what had happened.

Cornett was arrested the following day and admitted to the shooting, saying his "intentions were clear in his brain at that time." Court documents show that he "then described his anger at illegal immigration, telling the detective that he was 'pissed' about undocumented migrants receiving welfare funds, phones and health insurance, and that he had 'driven around before with the same thought."

Housemates of Cornett's also told authorities that he was "kind of obsessed" with stories about undocumented immigrants.