(KOAM) – Austin Schoemann, a 30-year-old resident of Wichita, Kansas, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, to multiple charges, including two counts of interference with federally-protected activities, two counts of interstate threats, and one count of interference with housing rights.
During the plea hearing, Schoemann admitted that on July 27, 2022, he brandished a firearm and used racial slurs to threaten two Black juveniles at a QuikTrip gasoline station. He also threatened a Black adult who intervened to support the juveniles.
“This defendant committed serious hate crimes when he used guns and death threats to terrorize two Black children and an adult who came to their aid,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Racially-motivated threats and violence, in any form, are unacceptable in our society. The Justice Department is committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws to protect crime victims targeted because of race.”