Kansas

A Kansas man was charged with two hate crimes for threatening to attack a Nashville Pride event.

According to the charges, on April 26, 2023, the defendant posted comments on the social media account for Nashville Pride threatening to “make shrapnel pressure cooker bombs for this event.” In another comment posted the same day, the defendant threatened to “commit a mass shooting.”

These are serious allegations. But the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/kansas-man-facing-federal-charges-making-online-threats-toward-nashville-pride-event

A grand jury charged a Kansas man with using death threats and racial slurs to intimidate Black people.

According to the charges, on July 27, 2022, the defendant showed a firearm and threatened two Black juveniles using racial slurs. Then, he threatened a Black adult with his firearm after they intervened.

From January to August 2022, the defendant told a white woman that he would hurt or kill any Black people who visited her home.  He would occasionally stand outside her house and shout threats and racial slurs when he believed the woman had Black visitors.  He is also charged with posting threatening videos and messages to the social media accounts of the victim’s family.

These are serious allegations. But the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kansas-man-indicted-using-guns-death-threats-and-racial-slurs-intimidate-black-people

A Kansas man pled guilty to threatening a Black minor with a knife because of their race.

According to evidence, the defendant was driving through a residential area in Paola, Kansas, when he saw the victim walking on the sidewalk. The defendant stopped, got out of the car, and approached the victim with a knife. Threatening the victim, the defendant yelled racial slurs, and told the victim that Paola is a “white town.”

Donner faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kansas-man-pleads-guilty-racially-motivated-federal-hate-crime-targeting-black-man

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kansas-man-indicted-hate-crime-racially-motivated-threat-minor-and-unlawfully-possessing

A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, returned an indictment charging the defendant with threatening a Black minor, because of the victim’s race. The indictment alleges that the defendant shouted racial slurs and brandished a knife at the victim.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for both the civil rights and firearm charges.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kansas-man-indicted-hate-crime-racially-motivated-threat-minor-and-unlawfully-possessing

On January 25, 2019, Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright, and Patrick Stein were sentenced to 25, 26, and 30 years, respectively, for conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and to violate the housing rights of their intended victims. Both conspiracies stemmed from the defendants’ plot to blow up an apartment complex in an effort to kill the Somali Muslim immigrants who lived and worshipped there. Prior to the conviction, the FBI conducted an eight-month-long investigation during which they uncovered recordings of the defendants discussing their plan to attack the apartment complex. One undercover FBI agent posed as a black-market arms dealer and met with one of the defendants, who attempted to purchase a bomb from the undercover agent.

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-southwest-kansas-men-sentenced-prison-plotting-bomb-somali-immigrants-garden-city

A Kansas man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the February 2017 killing of an Indian national and for the shooting of two other men. Earlier this year, the defendant plead guilty to hate crimes, firearm offenses, attempted murder, and murder charges related to the death and injuries of the three victims. According to the plea agreement, the defendant approached the victims, demanding to know how they entered the country, and called one victim a “terrorist.” The defendant later returned to the bar with a gun and shot two victims, killing one and injuring the other. At the defendant’s guilty-plea hearing, he admitted that he targeted and shot two of the Indian National victims because of their race, color, and national origin and that he shot the third victim in an attempt to flee the crime scene.

Sentencing: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kansas-man-sentenced-life-prison-without-parole-racially-motivated-shooting-olathe-bar