A U.S. District Court judge set sentencing for October after Wichita resident Austin Shoemann entered guilty pleas to charges tied to a “hate-fueled crime spree” in 2022 that including threatening to harm three Black people at a convenience store and threatening to injure or kill Black people who visited a white woman’s home in Wichita. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — A Wichita man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to hate crimes by waving a gun and using racial slurs to threaten two Black juveniles entering a convenience store and to prevent a Black adult from intervening on behalf of the minors.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said Austin Shoemann’s “hate-fueled crime spree” led to pleas on two counts of interference with federally protected activities, two counts of interstate threats and one count of interference with housing. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2023.
“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,” Clarke said. “Racially motivated threats and violence, in any form, are unacceptable in our society.”