(AUSTIN, Texas) — As many school districts across the country continue to ban books, students are beginning to fight back by organizing protests and creating their own spaces to read and discuss these books.
Sophomores Ella Scott and Alyssa Hoy of Austin, Texas, are two of many students leading the charge with The Vandergrift High School Banned Book Club.
“We started this club so that we can learn because high school is a place of learning,” Scott told GMA. “And that’s why these books were here in the first place.”
At Vandergrift High School — where Scott and Hoy are students and which is under the Leander Independent School District — nearly two dozen books were removed from certain grades, libraries and book clubs last spring.
Many of the books on the list deal with race, sexuality and finding yourself.
Across the country, nearly 1,600 books were pulled from shelves in 26 states in the last year, according to nonprofit organization Pen America.
“It’s somebody’s story and people need to learn about it and be OK talking about it,” Hoy said.
School officials told ABC News that Leander Independent School District “has not banned books,” and that, instead, books go through a “process” if they are submitted for a review. District officials can then decide if a book should be returned to the shelves and in what capacity.
The school district also said it “believes in allowing students to have the opportunity to voice their thoughts.”
Hoy and Scott aren’t the only ones on a mission to bring back certain books to school libraries.
In Missouri, two students recently filed a class-action lawsuit against their district for banning books they say contain “the perspective of an author or protagonist who is non-white, LGBTQ+ or otherwise identifies as a minority.” Some of the books have since been put back on shelves.
“I think [it] scares them,” Scott said about officials banning certain books. “I think just because it doesn’t happen to you, it has happened to others.”
(LOS ANGELES) — The suspect who allegedly rushed and tackled comedian Dave Chappelle on stage last month has been charged with attempted murder in a separate incident after the victim identified the man from media coverage surrounding the Chappelle case, prosecutors said.
Isaiah Lee, 23, faces one count of attempted murder, a felony, for allegedly stabbing his roommate in December, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday.
Prosecutors allege that Lee stabbed his roommate during a fight at a transitional housing apartment on Dec. 2. The victim reported the incident to police and recently identified Lee as the perpetrator following news of the Chappelle attack, according to the district attorney’s office.
“The publicity generated by the attack on Mr. Chappelle helped police solve this crime,” Gascón, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in a statement.
Lee pleaded not guilty to the charge on Thursday in Los Angeles criminal court, the district attorney’s office said. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 2.
Attorney information for Lee in the felony case wasn’t immediately available.
The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Lee has pleaded not guilty to multiple misdemeanor charges stemming from the Chappelle incident, which occurred during the Netflix Is A Joke Fest at the Hollywood Bowl on May 3.
He was arrested and booked at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood station following the show and was initially held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney decided not to move forward with felony charges because Lee was not brandishing the knife that looked like the gun, court records show.
The case was referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, which charged Lee with four misdemeanor counts — battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during a performance and commission of an act that delays the event or interferes with the performer.
During an arraignment hearing on May 6, a judge ordered that Lee not come within 100 yards of Chappelle or the Hollywood Bowl.
In the wake of the attack, Gascón said he’s creating a “roundtable” made up of venues, event security and law enforcement to improve safety and security at events.
ABC News’ Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The production of firearms in the U.S. has ramped up exponentially in recent decades with domestic manufacturing more than doubling and imports more than quadrupling, according to a new study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The increases between the years 2000 and 2020 were fueled by the mass proliferation of the pistol as the most widespread firearm type and a 24,080% percent increase in manufacturing of short-barreled rifles, according to the ATF report. The number of firearms made in the U.S. increased by 187% and the number imported increased by 350% over the same period.
The report comes as the nation is still reeling from a mass shooting that left 10 Black people dead in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket last weekend. The suspected gunman legally purchased the Bushmaster rifle used to carry out the shooting with some modifications currently illegal in the state of New York, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
The nation’s patchwork of gun laws has been largely relaxed by Supreme Court decisions as well as state and federal legislation over the time period studied. Two Supreme Court cases that struck down local gun control ordinances in Chicago and Washington, D.C, paved the way for fewer restrictions on individual firearm purchases.
The report also looked at the more recent adoption of untraceable firearms called “ghost guns” — often assembled from parts bought online or made at a private residence.
“One of the most significant developments affecting lawful firearm commerce and law enforcement’s ability to reduce illegal access to guns in this period has been the proliferation of privately made firearms also known as “ghost guns,” the ATF Los Angeles Field Office said in a statement on the report.
The number of firearms recovered by law enforcement believed to be privately made increased 1,000% between 2016 and 2021, according to the report.
The U.S. ranks first in the world for the number of firearms in the hands of civilians, according to a 2018 report by the nonpartisan Small Arms Survey. Yemen, Montenegro, Serbia and Canada round out the top five when adjusted for population size, although all have less than half the number of firearms per capita than the U.S.
(MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.) — The family of the man who had previously been named a suspect in the 2009 disappearance of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said the investigation had ruined their lives for years.
Timothy Taylor was named by the FBI as a suspect in Drexel’s disappearance in 2016, ABC Charleston affiliate WCIV reported. An informant told FBI agents that he saw Taylor, who was 16 at the time of Drexel’s disappearance, and others sexually abusing Drexel at a home in McClellanville, South Carolina, about 60 miles south of Myrtle Beach.
Drexel had been on a spring break trip when she disappeared.
On Monday, authorities announced that Raymond Moody, 62, had been arrested for Drexel’s murder after her remains were found in a wooded area in Georgetown County, South Carolina, last week.
Timothy Taylor’s mother, the Rev. Joanne Taylor, for years insisted her son was innocent, saying the teen spent time in church, had a strict bedtime and could not have been involved in Drexel’s murder.
When federal agents named Timothy Taylor a suspect, he was in federal court on unrelated charges stemming from a 2011 robbery at a McDonald’s.
He was convicted on state and federal armed robbery charges and was sentenced in 2019 to three years of probation.
The FBI told WCIV Monday that Taylor was no longer a suspect in Drexel’s disappearance after a man who had been named a person of interest as early as 2012 was arrested. The portion that included the investigation into Taylor’s alleged involvement “has been concluded,” the FBI spokesperson said.
“We are confident that with Moody’s arrest we have the man responsible for Brittanee’s murder,” the FBI spokesperson told the station.
During a press conference on Thursday, Taylor’s family and friends expressed how devastating the investigation had been.
“Following investigations is one thing, but deliberately and intentionally making them strange fruit that is hung before the court system at the hand of a gavel, and unjust investigators is definitely unfair,” said the Rev. Lawrence Bratton. “This family has been devastated, ruined for the last 15 years, emotionally, psychologically, financially, and in every way that you can imagine down to the next generation.”
An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment on the family’s statement.
Bratton said that even as the criminal justice system abandoned them, the community, as well as groups such as the National Action Network, the NAACP and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance stood firmly beside the Taylor family.
“How do you do that? How do you take a family, devastate them and walk away and say no harm, no foul,” Bratton said in response to the FBI’s announcement that Timothy Taylor had been cleared.
The Rev. Joanne Taylor said that while the family’s heart goes out to the loved ones of Drexel, her son was “suspected without any credible evidence of a crime he did not commit” and “maintained his innocence in the face of relentless pursuit by local and federal law enforcement, investigators and the media.”
“The years long fight against accusations, false accusations, and the media frenzy that shoot us has traumatized us, affecting every aspect of our lives,” she said. “It has publicly questioned without reason our family, our families character, and it has shaken us to the core.”
Timothy Taylor did not appear at the press conference with his family.
Drexel traveled to Myrtle Beach from her parents’ home in the Rochester, New York, area in April 2009, despite her mother denying her permission to go, Melissa Drexel told ABC News. She was last seen on April 25, 2009, on a hotel surveillance camera as she was leaving a friend’s room at the Blue Water Resort to walk back to the hotel where she was staying — about a mile-and-a-half walk down the busy Myrtle Beach strip, ABC Rochester station WHAM reported.
Her remains were found less than 3 miles from a motel where Moody had been living at the time of Drexel’s disappearance, Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said.
Authorities said that Moody buried Drexel’s body, but did not answer questions on how Drexel’s remains were found.
Moody is being held without bond at the Georgetown County jail and is expected to be charged with rape, murder and kidnapping, said Jimmy Richardson, solicitor for Horry and Georgetown Counties, on Monday.
“In the last week, we’ve confirmed that Brittanee lost her life in a tragic way, at the hands of a horrible criminal who was walking our streets,” said FBI special agent in charge Susan Ferensic during a press conference on Monday.
In 2012, Moody had been identified as a person of interest in the disappearance but there was not enough evidence to name him as a suspect, officials said.
Even though Timothy Taylor’s name has been cleared, his “name and face will forever be linked to Brittanee Drexel,” his mother said.
“I call for law enforcement to halt the practice of disclosing unfounded leads and names of potential suspects without credible evidence,” she said. “Doing this has real life consequences and a lasting dispersion effect on so many, particularly us Black families.”
(NEW YORK) — The Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill that would ban abortion at conception, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the country if it goes into effect.
There are exceptions in cases of saving the life of the mother, rape or incest.
The bill, HB 4327, which would go into effect immediately if signed by the governor, is modeled after a controversial Texas law that opens up providers and anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion to civil lawsuits.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a similar six-week ban into law earlier this month.
Planned Parenthood has already said it plans to challenge the state’s latest, more-restrictive abortion ban.
“This ban must be stopped — along with the other abortion bans the state passed just last month,” Planned Parenthood Action said.
Stitt seems likely to sign the bill into law. When the governor signed the so-called “heartbeat act” into law this month, he said he wanted Oklahoma “to be the most pro-life state in the country.”
Last month, Stitt signed another abortion bill that would make it a felony to perform abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger.
The GOP-led Oklahoma House of Representatives called HB 4327 the “most strongly pro-life bill of its kind by allowing civil liability from conception.”
“It is my sincere hope that, in addition to the criminal bill passed this session, this civil liability bill will provide strong, additional protection of the life of unborn children in Oklahoma,” state Rep. Wendi Stearman, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement.
The Center for Reproductive Rights said Thursday it plans to fight the ban if it goes into effect.
“Multiple generations of Oklahomans have relied on abortion access to shape their lives and futures. They have never known a world without that right,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “But under this bill, people will be forced to travel hundreds of miles for an abortion, and those who cannot afford to travel will be forced to give birth against their will or attempt to end their pregnancies on their own. This is the cruel reality that politicians are creating for their own residents.”
The string of abortion legislation in Oklahoma comes as the U.S. Supreme Court debates a case that could impact Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. The conservative majority of the court appeared poised to overturn the nearly 50-year precedent, according to a leaked draft opinion initially reported by Politico earlier this month.
Several other Republican-led states — including Arizona, Kentucky and Wyoming — have similarly passed abortion legislation ahead of the decision, which is expected next month.
(NEW YORK) — An Erie County, New York, 911 dispatcher could be fired after an employee at the Tops supermarket said the dispatcher hung up on her during Saturday’s attack that killed 10 people.
Latisha Rogers, an assistant store manager, told The Buffalo News that the dispatcher “was yelling at me” during those terrifying moments when the shooter was firing in the store.
“You don’t have to whisper,” Rogers said the dispatcher told her as she tried to stay quiet so the gunman wouldn’t find her. “And I was telling her, ‘Ma’am he’s still in the store. He’s shooting,'” according to the paper’s account.
The county will seek the dispatcher’s termination following a review of the 911 call, a spokesman for the Erie County Executive’s Office told ABC News.
The spokesman, Peter Anderson, said dispatching officers to the scene was unaffected by the actions. Police have said officers arrived a minute after the shooting began.
Rogers told The New York Times she was behind the customer service counter when the shooting began. She ducked behind the counter to call 911 and told the paper she whispered, “There’s someone shooting in the store.”
Rogers said the dispatcher asked why she was whispering and told her she couldn’t hear her, according to the Times. The line then cut out.
Payton Gendron, 18, has been charged in the mass shooting, which authorities have said was racially motivated. All 10 people killed in the attack were Black.
Rogers, who is also Black, was uninjured in the shooting.
(NEW YORK) — Brandon Woodruff had appeared to live the normal life of a 19-year-old, small-town Texas kid – but that changed in 2005, when both of his parents were brutally murdered. After an investigation, Woodruff was charged with capital murder, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Now, Woodruff has served 13 years of his life sentence and said he’s finally ready to share his story in the first interview after his conviction.
“I’m innocent. I did not kill my parents at all,” Woodruff told “20/20” in an interview. “I think that you should look at the totality of the evidence.”
Woodruff grew up in a community outside of Dallas with his mother Norma Woodruff, father Dennis Woodruff and older sister Charla Woodruff.
Watch the full story on “20/20” FRIDAY at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
Growing up, former high school classmates said they remember Woodruff as a popular, outgoing, animal lover who was the president of the Future Farmers of America. The teen was voted most school spirit and had a steady girlfriend.
But during the investigation of his parents’ murders, authorities discovered that while Woodruff attended Abilene Christian University, he would go dancing at gay clubs, was dating men and had even traveled out of state to participate in adult movies.
On Sunday October 16, 2005, Woodruff visited his parents at their new home in Royse City, Texas. The couple was downsizing to help pay college tuition for their two children. He told police he left after the family enjoyed a pizza dinner together. Woodruff was the last known person to see both of them alive.
Two days later, Dennis and Norma Woodruff were found murdered in their new home. According to authorities, Dennis Woodruff was found shot once and stabbed nine times. Norma Woodruff sustained multiple gunshot wounds and had her neck slashed, investigators said.
Police concluded that Norma and Dennis Woodruff must have likely been killed sometime between 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday night. However, the medical examiner was not able to confirm the time of death. Norma Woodruff’s last phone conversation was with her mother around 9 p.m. and the next person to try and contact the couple was Charla Woodruff, who was at college in Arkansas, just after 11 p.m. Charla Woodruff was unable to reach them. When Woodruff was questioned by police about his whereabouts that night, there were inconsistencies in his timeline.
Michelle Lee, the mother of Woodruff’s girlfriend, also contacted law enforcement to report that a gun and bullets were missing from her home. Woodruff had been in her home the weekend before his parents were found dead. Investigators compared a bullet found at the crime scene with a bullet from the Lee home and said they believed they were consistent. The Lee’s gun was never found, but investigators believe it was the same caliber as the weapon used in the crime. A murder weapon was never recovered and Woodruff denies stealing the gun.
Woodruff was arrested and charged with capital murder.
In June 2008, a family member found a dagger in the barn of the Woodruff’s old house in Heath, Texas. Dennis Woodruff’s blood was on this weapon. Brandon Woodruff’s former college roommate testified that dagger was the same one Woodruff had in his dorm room. Authorities could not conclude if the dagger found was the murder weapon and Woodruff denies that the weapon is his.
Woodruff’s grandmother Bonnie Woodruff has supported Woodruff from the beginning and still maintains her grandson is innocent.
“I know Brandon was wrongfully judged. And murder? Now I know Brandon didn’t do that. Someone else is letting him take the blame for it,” said Bonnie Woodruff.
Over the past decade, advocates for Woodruff say there are red flags surrounding the investigation and his subsequent trial. Woodruff claims his sexuality played a role in his arrest and conviction.
“I do believe that that’s a major factor. I felt like the investigators were able to use that. They would say, well, ‘Did you know that he was dancing in gay bars? Did you know he had a boyfriend, did you know?’” said Woodruff.
During the investigation, police told friends and family of Woodruff that they “don’t care” if he is gay.
During jury selection, eight out of twelve jurors told the court that they believed homosexuality was morally wrong, but they were still allowed to serve on the jury after promising the court they could be fair toward Woodruff.
“Guess what? In 2005 people still felt that homosexuality was immoral because eight of the 12 jurors on Brandon’s case specifically said it was immoral,” said Philip Crawford, the author of a book called “Railroaded” about Woodruff’s case.
ABC News spoke with several jurors who said Woodruff’s sexuality wasn’t a factor in the jury’s decision.
While in prison, supporters have started a movement to free Brandon and now the Innocence Project of Texas has taken his case.
Allison Clayton, the deputy director with the Innocence Project of Texas claims that the prosecution’s case against Woodruff relied heavily on a timeline because they say Woodruff’s whereabouts were not accounted for at the time that authorities estimate the couple was killed. Clayton points to cell phone records that would further compress the window of opportunity to commit the murders.
“Brandon kills his parents in, what? the most, 19 minutes? He has to act fast or he is taking calls during the course of committing these murders,” said Clayton. “That’s the only way the timeline makes sense, that he does something to one of his parents, and then takes a call and chats with [a friend] like nothing’s wrong.”
In addition to the timeline, Clayton said one of the other biggest potential breakthroughs for this case would be taking DNA evidence from hair found in Norma Woodruff’s hand.
“In Norma’s hand, police found a clump of longer blonde hairs. Now, that would normally be an indicator that she had somehow grabbed her attacker and that she pulled his or her hair,” said Clayton. “Law enforcement never tested that hair. And one of the things that we’ve been fighting for in the case is trying to figure out who has that hair because we want it tested.”
In 2000, Woodruff’s direct appeal to the state was denied. In order for Woodruff to be released, he needs to prove to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that he is innocent.
“As it stands right now, if we don’t have a break in the case, then there’s nothing we can do for Brandon,” said Clayton. “He is going to be in prison for the rest of his life, but maybe there will be evidence that can help him, maybe someone is out there, who knows something, who’s willing to step forward.”
Bonnie Woodruff said that she still hopes that one day she can hug her grandson again and tell him “he’s home now.”
”We are all still a family unit and we all love one another. People can live with what they think, I can live with what I think because I know the truth and the truth’s gonna come out,” said Bonnie Woodruff.
Woodruff said he won’t stop fighting to prove his innocence.
“I’m not gonna stop. I’m gonna keep fighting and I’m gonna keep fighting to prove my innocence,” he said. “I do believe in my heart that it will happen.”
(SANTA FE, N.M.) — Two national forests in New Mexico are fully closed to the public due to extreme fire danger as several wildfires, including the largest in the state’s history, also burn.
The Carson National Forest and the Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico are barring visitors, effective Thursday, due to fire risk that is only expected to get worse due to drought conditions.
“The hot and dry conditions we’re experiencing pose a dire risk for wildfires to quickly ignite and spread rapidly,” Carson National Forest supervisor James Duran said in a statement. “Community compliance will be essential for our success in protecting the forest amid these conditions.”
Campgrounds, trails and National Forest System roads in the forests are closed until conditions improve and there is “significant moisture,” forest officials said. The restrictions are currently scheduled to last until July 18.
Those who violate the closure order — a misdemeanor — could face a fine upwards of $5,000 or imprisonment.
The decision comes as over 2,100 fire personnel battle the massive Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire east of Santa Fe, which this week became the largest fire in the state’s history. As of Thursday morning, the fire had burned over 303,000 acres and was 34% contained, state fire officials said. A red flag warning is in effect Thursday for hot, dry and windy conditions.
“Right now with the conditions as dry as they are, all it takes is a spark from an exhaust and you can have another huge fire happen,” Stefani Spencer of the Carson National Forest told Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT.
A third national forest in New Mexico — the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands, west of Albuquerque — is also partially closed to the public due to extreme fire danger.
Additionally, state officials announced on Wednesday that Pecos Canyon State Park in north central New Mexico is closed until further notice due to extreme fire danger.
“The ongoing and adjacent Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fires have demonstrated the severity of current fire conditions,” the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department State Parks Division said in a statement.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in several counties last month as multiple wildfires burned, including the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire.
Biden approved a disaster declaration earlier this month for New Mexico that brings financial resources to the areas battling the fires.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — As loved ones of the victims looked on, an 18-year-old suspect accused of fatally shooting 10 people in what authorities described as a racially motivated rampage, appeared in court Thursday and was called a “coward” by someone at the hearing.
The suspect, Payton Gendron, entered the Buffalo, New York, City Court wearing an orange jumpsuit, a white face mask and chains on his legs and hands and surrounded by numerous court officers.
Prosecutors said a grand jury had indicted him on first-degree murder, but all the charges remain under seal.
Judge Craig D. Hannah adjourned Thursday’s one-minute hearing. The hearing was scheduled to be a felony hearing, but because Gendron has been indicted, the judge scheduled his next hearing for June 9, when he is expected to be arraigned on charges in the grand jury indictment.
Relatives and family members of victims killed in the shooting at a grocery store Saturday crowded into the courtroom to watch. Gendron entered and left under heavy guard.
A woman in sitting in the courtroom gallery was overheard yelling, “Payton, you’re a coward” as he exited the courtroom.
“The defendant continues to remain held without bail. There will be no further comment from our office until there is a report following an investigation by the Grand Jury,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said in a statement. “As are all persons accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”
No additional charges have been filed.
Gendron made no comments in court.
Gendron was initially charged with one count of murder following Saturday afternoon’s massacre at a Tops Friendly Market in which police officials alleged he intentionally targeted Black people in the attack he planned for months. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered to be held without bail.
Gendron is expected to face additional murder and attempted murder counts and state hate crime charges. The FBI is also conducting a parallel investigation, which the Department of Justice said could lead to federal hate crime and terrorism charges.
During a visit to Buffalo on Tuesday, President Joe Biden called the mass shooting an act of “domestic terrorism.”
All 10 of the people killed in the attack were Black, six women and four men. Three other people were wounded in the shooting, including one Black victim and two white victims.
Investigators said Gendron drove three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, and alleged he spent Friday conducting a final reconnaissance on the store before committing the mass shooting Saturday afternoon.
Authorities allege Gendron was wielding an AR-15-style rifle, dressed in military fatigues, body armor and wearing a tactical helmet with a camera attached when he stormed the store around 2:30 p.m., shooting four people outside the business and nine others inside. Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said the suspect fired a barrage of 50 shots during the rampage.
Police said Gendron allegedly livestreamed the attack on the gaming website Twitch before the company took down the live feed two minutes into the shooting.
Among those killed was 55-year-old Aaron Salter Jr., a retired Buffalo police officer who was working as a security guard at the supermarket. Authorities said Salter fired at the gunman, but the bullets had no effect due to the bulletproof vest the suspect wore.
Buffalo police officers arrived at the store one minute after getting the first calls of an active shooter and confronted the suspect, who responded by placing the barrel of the rifle to his chin and threatening to kill himself, according to Gramaglia. He said the officers de-escalated the situation and talked Gendron into surrendering.
(JONESBORO, Ga.) — Hate crime charges have been announced against a man accused of planning to fatally shoot customers and employees of two Jonesboro, Georgia, convenience stores.
Larry Edward Foxworth allegedly fired a gun repeatedly into two convenience stores at 2:30 a.m. on July 30, 2021. Both stores were open for business.
The indictment alleges that Foxworth, who is white, was motivated to shoot into the stores because of the perceived race, color or national origin of the people inside the stores.
“No person should be afraid to shop or go to work in our community. Nor should people have to worry that they may be violently attacked because of the color of their skin,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement.
Foxworth was charged with two counts of committing a federal hate crime and discharging a firearm to commit a violent crime. He has not yet entered a plea.
He is being charged under the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act, which makes it a federal crime to willfully cause bodily injury, or attempt to do so using a dangerous weapon because of the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin.
Clayton County is a predominantly Black community, making up 72.8% of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The charges against Foxworth come in the wake of the mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.
The 18-year-old suspect in Buffalo shot and killed 10 people, injuring three others, in what authorities have described as a racially motivated rampage.
“Hate-fueled violence has no place in a civilized society,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “Thankfully no one was injured by the conduct alleged in this case, but the Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal to prosecute allegations of hate crimes.”
This is the first time in about eight years that hate crime charges have been filed in the Northern District of Georgia, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told ABC News.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Clayton County Police Department.
