Clayton County man accused of planning 2 racially-motivated mass shootings at metro gas stations

ATLANTA — Federal investigators Wednesday revealed hate crime charges against a man accused of planning a mass shooting in Clayton County.

It would have been troublingly similar to the massacre that killed 10 people over the weekend in Buffalo, New York.

Larry Edward Foxworth, of Jonesboro, was initially arrested in the early morning hours of July 30.

According to a federal indictment, Foxworth is accused of repeatedly firing a gun into two convenience stores last summer. When officers arrived, Foxworth, who is white, allegedly told them he did it because he didn’t like the race of the people working there.

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“No person should be afraid to shop or to work in our community, nor should people have to worry they may be violently attacked because of the color of their skin,” said U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Ryan Buchanan.

The indictment comes on the heels of the Buffalo, New York mass shooting this past weekend where police say an 18-year-old white man was racially motivated to kill 10 black people.

“Combating hate crimes continues to be a top priority of the Department of Justice,” Buchanan said.

Huddleston asked if the recent indictment was because of the Buffalo shooting and was told this case was well underway before the Buffalo shooting and the grand jury made their ruling on Tuesday.

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