Overview

• On June 18, 2025, Douglas Wayne Cornett pleaded guilty to two federal hate crime counts and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
• Cornett admitted he followed the victims from Interstate 95 to a Spotsylvania County gas station because he was “pissed” about undocumented migrants receiving public benefits.
• The shooting wounded one man three times and another once, leaving both with serious injuries.
• Court records reveal Cornett fantasized about using an Apache helicopter to fire on undocumented migrants at the border.
• He faces up to life in prison plus a mandatory ten-year firearms sentence and will be sentenced on November 13, 2025.