Georgia man sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for hate crime shooting

ATLANTA – Larry Edward Foxworth has been sentenced to federal prison for shooting into Clayton County, Georgia, convenience stores to kill those inside based upon their race and ethnicity.

“Foxworth used a firearm to commit a brazen and heinous hate crime,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.  “He fired repeatedly into convenience stores in his effort to kill those inside based solely on the color of their skin.  This abhorrent act of violence and intimidation left the victims, their families, and the community traumatized, and merits the prison sentence Foxworth received. The Department of Justice and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to vigorously prosecute hate crimes.” 

“The defendant fired a gun into a store wanting to kill people who he thought were Black or Arab,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Hate-fueled violence not only traumatizes the victims, but it threatens and intimidates an entire community. This sentence demonstrates the importance of holding accountable those who commit racially-motivated violence. The Justice Department is committed to aggressively prosecuting those individuals who carry out hate crimes in our country.”   

“Hopefully this lengthy sentence proves that the FBI will not tolerate intimidation and violence against anyone because of their race or ethnicity,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI’s Civil Rights Program will continue to use every resource available to ensure criminals, like Foxworth, that commit bias-motivated violent crimes are held accountable and removed from our streets.”

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court: At approximately 2:35 a.m. on July 30, 2021, Foxworth fired numerous rounds from a Glock pistol through a window and a door of a gas station convenience store located in Jonesboro, Georgia.  Just minutes later, at approximately 2:57 a.m., he again fired multiple rounds from the same handgun through the windows and door of a different convenience store located nearby.  Both stores were open and occupied when Foxworth fired the shots, but no one was hit by the gunfire. 

Clayton County Police Department officers arrested Foxworth shortly after the second attack. After his arrest, Foxworth told officers that he had targeted the stores because he wanted to kill Arab and Black people, and he believed that there were people inside the stores who belonged to those groups. Foxworth expressed hope that he had killed his targets, and professed belief in white supremacist ideology.

Larry Edward Foxworth, 48, of Jonesboro, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen to 20 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.  He was also ordered to pay restitution of $1,000.  On December 16, 2022, Foxworth pleaded guilty to the offense of hate crime based on actual or perceived race or color, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 249(a), and the offense of discharging a firearm during the commission of that crime of violence, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A)(iii).

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Alan Gray and Trial Attorney Alec C. Ward of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.