A man who is facing attempted murder charges after stabbing three members of an Asian American family he believed were 'spreading the coronavirus' could be charged with a hate crime offence.

The incident occurred at a Sam's Club in Midland, Texas, and was only stopped when a heroic employee of the store intervened, preventing the man from killing the family in his assault while.

The employee, Zach Owen, sustained stab wounds to his hand during his heroic rescue, according to authorities who spoke to BuzzFeed News.

Joe L. Gomez reportedly stabbed three people from an Asian American family and had to be subdued by an employee of the store, could face hate crime charges

Jose L. Gomez, 19, attacked the family on the 14 March, and after being subdued by the store employee, was taken into custody by an off-duty border patrol agent.

In a statement obtained by ABC news, Gomez said he 'thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus.'

He has been charged with three counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but the FBI has confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the case is also being handled as a possible hate crime.

Family members who were stabbed in the incident included a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old, according to documents obtained by ABC. Owen and the three victims have all been discharged from hospital.

A Sam's club in text, similar to that in which the assault occured, where a Sam's club employee had to intervene to prevent Gomez from stabbing an Asian American family to death

Speaking to CBS7 Bernie Ramirez, the border patrol agent who took Gomez into custody, said that wen he first saw the altercation he thought people were fighting over goods in the store.

'My initial thought was it was just the shortage of items that they were fighting over,' Ramirez said. 'So I just started making my way over there to break it up.'

As he got closer he saw that an employee had a man in chokehold, and saying that the man had stabbed people in the store. Ramirez pulled out his badge and detained Gomez before the police arrived.

He gave credit to Owen, the employee, saying 'he went into a knife fight empty handed. He took control of the individual and he disarmed him. If Zach had not been there things could've gone really badly.'

Ramirez even said Owen would be a great addition to the border patrol forces, saying: 'I don’t know what kind of line of work Zach is wanting to go into, but Border Patrol is always hiring, and we’d love to hire somebody like him.'

Speaking about Gomez's thinking behind the attack, Ramirez said: 'I've got close to 19 years in law enforcement. It's crazy and it's sad the way certain individuals think, their mindset. It's a sad deal.'

The FBI have warned of a potential increase in the number of hate crimes against Asian American people during the coronavirus outbreak.

Some, including President Donald Trump, have used rhetoric that critics say is fueling such incidents and stoking prejudices against Asian Americans.

Trump has referred to Covid-19 as the 'Chinese virus' on numerous occasions which critics say is blaming China and inciting harassment. When defending his use of the term, Trump said: 'It's not racist at all, no. Not at all. It comes from China.'

President Trump, pictured alongside VP Mike Pence giving a press briefing about the coronavirus, has repeatedly used the term 'China virus' when referring to Covid-19, despite critics saying such rhetoric will stoke aggression towards Asian American people in the U.S.

In a public statement on the issue of hate crimes against Asian Americans, warning that cases are likely to increase, the FBI said: The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to the spread of coronavirus disease [...] endangering Asian American communities.

'The FBI makes this assessment based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations.'

An FBI spokesperson told Buzzfeed News that the organization 'will use all authority granted to us by federal law to investigate and hold those who commit violent acts accountable for their actions.'

'During the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to remind everyone that any violent criminal act against any person because of their race, ethnicity or national origin is a hate crime. This includes violence toward Asian Americans or individuals from East Asian countries.'

As of April 1, there have been over 216,000 cases of coronavirus in the U.S