A man from Wichita, Kansas, will now go to prison for threatening to kill Black children after waving a gun at them.
Austin D. Schoemann will spend 80 months in prison for his racist threats of violence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas detailed the 31-year-old white man’s charges. He previously pleaded guilty to two counts of interference with federally protected activities, two counts of interstate threats and one count of interference with housing.
According to his plea agreement, obtained by the Wichita Eagle, the racist incident occurred outside a QuikTrip in July 2022. The document notes that Schoemann has been drinking when he saw two Black children leave the Wichita location, promptly exiting his vehicle to start harassing them. According to a witness, Schoemann used the phrase “white power” and racial slurs.
After a Black woman tried to de-escalate the situation, Schoemann took out his gun and threatened to use it.
“He responded by threateningly brandishing a pistol and ejecting (not firing) a bullet from the chamber,” detailed the agreement. “Schoemann threatened (the children) because they are Black and because they were enjoying the services and facilities.”
However, Schoemann has a deeper history of racial harassment. In December 2021, he began harassing Black guests at his white ex-girlfriend’s house. Moreover, he sent “racially-threatening messages” to her family and friends.
Things escalated even further when Schoemann would stand outside the woman’s home and yell out these threats and racial slurs whenever Black people would arrive. He acted on his threats by destroying the mother of the women’s car windshield, which he thought belonged to a Black person.
He also sent videos to her loved ones threatening to murder Black people. The statements included “one cap to the head, (racial slur dead)” and “put me in front of a welfare line; I will get rid of poverty.”
Following his arrest, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas, Kate E. Brubacher encouraged the public to report those who inflict hate crimes and other racial violence.
“Perpetrators of hate crimes inflict pain upon victims in furtherance of a larger goal of breeding fear and divisiveness within our communities,” wrote Brubacher. “The Justice Department is standing against racial violence and threats of racial violence by prosecuting offenders, but we need the public’s help. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas encourages those who are victims of or witnesses to hate crimes to report these incidents to law enforcement.”
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