An Auburn man who admitted to targeting a Black woman because of her race and stabbing her after forcing her off a King County Metro bus has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.
Adan Hernandez-Mayoral, 25, was sentenced Tuesday, June 2, to 54 months in prison after pleading guilty to a federal hate crime charge, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
Federal prosecutors said Hernandez-Mayoral used a knife to injure the woman during a racially motivated attack aboard a Metro bus in Kent on March 7, 2024.
“The facts of what happened on that bus are despicable,” U.S. District Judge James Robart said during sentencing. “It was a prolonged intentional assault on a Black woman…. We need to protect the public from this defendant.”
According to proseutors, Hernandez-Mayoral boarded the bus and immediately began making racist remarks about Black people. Prosecutors said he repeatedly targeted the victim, yelling slurs and directing racial insults at her.
When the woman attempted to move away from him, Hernandez-Mayoral followed her while concealing a knife behind his back, prosecutors said.
When the bus stopped and the doors opened, Hernandez-Mayoral grabbed the woman, shoved her off the bus and into a fence, then repeatedly punched, kicked, and stomped on her, according to investigators.
Prosecutors said Hernandez-Mayoral then repeatedly stabbed the woman. The victim avoided more severe injuries because her thick coat absorbed much of the force of the knife strikes.
Hernandez-Mayoral fled after the attack but was arrested later that evening by Kent police officers.
On Dec. 23, 2025, Hernandez-Mayoral pleaded guilty to hate crime causing bodily injury. In his plea agreement, he admitted he used a knife to injure the victim because of her race and color.
“Racially motivated attacks such as this one shock the conscience of our community,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said in a statement. “Such hate has no place here.”
Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla credited officers, detectives, federal investigators, and prosecutors for securing the conviction.
“Hate-fueled violence has no place in Kent,” Padilla said.
A restitution amount for the victim will be determined at a later date.
