Malachi Robinson, a 25-year-old Missouri man, has been sentenced to almost 22 years in prison for a hate crime after shooting a gay teenager in May 2019. Robinson met the victim, referred to in court documents as M.S., at the Kansas City Public Library and lured him into the woods under the guise of finding a place to engage in a sexual act. According to court documents, Robinson shot the 16-year-old M.S. eight times.
Robinson had messaged his girlfriend on the same day about M.S., stating, “He tryna set me up on sumn now, gonna unfriend him, might shoot this boy if he try some gay shit,” according to court documents. After the shooting, Robinson messaged a friend and said he had shot someone because “he was being gay af and following me like a mf.”
M.S. was critically injured and required hospitalization for two weeks. The shooting left him with long-term effects, including requiring multiple surgeries and physical therapy, and he still has several bullets inside of him, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of a hate crime involving an attempt to kill and was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison without parole, according to the plea.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said, “This defendant’s sentence holds him accountable for the violent and callous hate crime perpetrated against a defenseless teenager targeted because of their LGBTQ+ status. Recent FBI data makes clear that hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ+ community persist, and this sentence should send a strong message to the perpetrators of these crimes that they will be held accountable.”
The FBI’s supplemental 2021 hate crime statistics found that hate crimes increased 11.6% nationally from 8,120 in 2020 to 9,065 in 2021. Of the 10,500 single-bias incidents involving 12,411 victims, the majority — 64.5% — were targeted due to the offenders’ bias against their race, ethnicity, or ancestry. The second most common reason was sexual orientation, with 15.9% of incidents.
In the past two years, LGBTQ+ individuals, events, and venues have been increasingly targeted by violence. Earlier this month, a man was stabbed in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, which police are investigating as a possible hate crime. Additionally, LGBTQ+ venues, events, and groups across the country have been threatened or vandalized, including a housing project for older adults in Boston. In November, a gunman killed five people at an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The rise in violence against the LGBTQ+ community highlights the ongoing need for greater protections and awareness.