On Wednesday, June 18, Douglas W. Cornett pleaded guilty to two counts of federal hate crimes involving attempts to kill and one count of discharging a firearm during a federal crime of violence

Court documents identify the two Latino men Cornett shot as “Victim 1” and “Victim 2.” Authorities in Spotsylvania previously said they are both from Prince William County[…]
Victim 2 happened to be fueling up at the Sheetz at that time and he witnessed both Victim 1 and Cornett pulling into the station. Victim 2 then approached Cornett and asked him why he was following Victim 1. Cornett answered by asking Victim 2 how long Victim 1 had been in the United States

With Victim 2 translating for them, Victim 1 said he had been in America for about a year and a half

Cornett then pulled out a handgun and shot a total of six times. Victim 1 was hit three times and Victim 2 was hit once. Both had serious injuries. Per court documents, Cornett then left the scene, returned home and told the two people he lived with about what happened

When he was arrested the following day, Cornett admitted to the double shooting and said “[his] intentions were clear in [his] brain, at that time”

“[Cornett] then described his anger at illegal immigration, telling the detective that he was ‘pissed’ about undocumented migrants receiving welfare funds, phones and health insurance, and that he had ‘driven around before with the same thought,'” court documents state. “[He] later asked the detective whether he could be ‘charged for [his] thoughts,’ and went on to explain that he fantasized about flying an Apache helicopter gunship to the border and firing on undocumented migrants traveling into the United States in order ‘to deter’ other undocumented migrants from attempting to cross the border”

Cornett’s housemates also told detectives that he was “kind of obsessed” with cable news stories about undocumented immigrants entering the United States