A Virginia man who opened fire on two Hispanic men at a gas station earlier this year will spend the rest of his life in federal prison. Court records reveal he had been expressing rage toward undocumented migrants and violent fantasies long before the attack.
Douglas Cornett, 58, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in March to shooting two Latino men from Prince William County at a Sheetz gas station in Woodford. Prosecutors said Cornett targeted the victims out of anger over illegal immigration and what he believed were government benefits going to migrants. The incident began when he asked one of the men how long he’d been in the United States before pulling the trigger.
After his arrest, Cornett told investigators he was furious that undocumented migrants were receiving welfare funds. According to court documents, he went even further, describing fantasies of flying an Apache helicopter gunship to the U.S.–Mexico border and “firing on undocumented migrants traveling into the United States in order ‘to deter’ other undocumented migrants from attempting to cross the border.”
Federal officials condemned the attack and the hatred behind it. “No one in this country should be hunted down and shot at because of who they are or where they come from,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“This sentence reflects the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to protecting communities from hate-fueled violence and to holding accountable those who attack others based on prejudice.” Cornett’s own roommates told police he had become consumed by cable news segments about border crossings, watching them obsessively in the months leading up to the shooting.
On Feb. 28, 2024, Cornett left his home in Ruther Glen and spotted a white panel truck driven by one of the victims, referred to in documents as O.G., on Interstate 95 around 9 p.m. Cornett began tailgating the truck, honking nonstop and following O.G. into a Quarles Fleet Fueling station near Mile Marker 118.
Confused and intimidated, O.G. approached a gas station employee he knew and asked them to find out why Cornett was following him. Rather than ending the encounter, O.G. drove to a nearby Sheetz on Mudd Tavern Road. Cornett followed again.
O.G. called his friend, J.M., who happened to be fueling his truck at the same Sheetz. When Cornett pulled up, he asked how long O.G. had been in the country. J.M. answered that O.G. had arrived less than two years earlier. Minutes later, the confrontation turned violent.
Cornett’s life sentence closes a case that federal authorities say was driven entirely by prejudice, fueled by anger, and aimed deliberately at two men because of their heritage.