Man sentenced for planning 2 racially-motivated mass shootings at metro gas stations

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A man accused of planning a mass shooting in Clayton County was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday.

On July 30, 2021, Larry Edward Foxworth, 48, repeatedly fired a gun into two convenience stores, according to federal prosecutors.

According to police, Foxworth told officers he did this because he wanted to kill Arab and Black people and believed that people inside the stores belonged to those groups.

People were inside the stores at the time of the shootings, but no one was injured.

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Court documents said Foxworth also expressed hope to officers that he had killed his targets and professed belief in white supremacist ideology.

“Foxworth used a firearm to commit a brazen and heinous hate crime,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia.

“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.”

Foxworth pleaded guilty to hate crime charge in December.

In addition to his 20-year sentence, judge also sentenced him to serve five years of supervised release after his prison term and also ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution.

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