Three Men Who Shot Black Lives Matter Protesters Emerged From Internet鈥檚 Racist Swamps
White supremacists involved in Minneapolis mayhem left behind a trail of emails, chat rooms, websites, reveling in the extremist right.
The white supremacists who showed up to a Black Lives Matter protest Monday night in Minneapolis and shot five African-American participants were not there just by coincidence.
As more facts emerge in the case, it鈥檚 now beginning to appear that not only was the attack a carefully planned attempt to disrupt the demonstration, but the men who participated in the shootings had conversed on websites and in chatrooms where racist and other far-right extremist ideology flourishes. Indeed, the men began networking in real life as a result of their Internet hatemongering.
Minneapolis police in connection with the shooting, which occurred at about 10:45 p.m. in front of the police precinct station where the Black Lives Matter had set up an encampment Nov. 15 to protest the shooting that day of .
According to several witness accounts, the men confronted protesters at the rally, but were in turn chased by a group of protesters into an alley, where one of them pulled a gun and shot into the crowd. None of the five victims suffered life-threatening injuries, but all were hospitalized. Authorities are trying to determine whether the men fired in self-defense, or whether the matter should be investigated .
鈥淎 group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights,鈥� Miski Noor, a spokesperson for Black Lives Matter, told Noor said the protesters tried to force the group to leave the area, and the men then 鈥渙pened fire.鈥�
As , the men -- Allen Lawrence 鈥淟ance鈥� Scarsella III, 23, of Bloomington; Nathan Gustavsson, 21, of Hermantown; and Daniel Macey, 26, of Pine City 鈥� originally connected through online conversations on Facebook and at such websites as 4chan. A fourth man who goes by the online name 鈥淪aiga Marine鈥� was part of the same group, but police released the man after questioning Tuesday, saying he was not at the scene of the shooting Monday.
A Facebook video posted by BLM activists, reportedly taken from one of the men鈥檚 pages, shows two masked men driving in a car at night, brandishing a gun and saying they were planning to go harass the 鈥渄indus鈥� ( to describe the black protesters). It was reportedly recorded on Friday night, and the driver identifies himself as 鈥淪aiga Marine.鈥�
鈥淲e are on our way, we鈥檙e going to knock this shit out,鈥� said the driver. 鈥淔--- 鈥� and we鈥檙e going to see what these dindus are dinduing about.鈥�
by the men seemed to show that they had planned these confrontations carefully. 鈥淒o you know if the BLM n------ are planning to protest again tomorrow, and if so, at what time?鈥� one white supremacist asked in an email chain.
includes a photo of the 鈥淏onnie Blue鈥� version of the Confederate flag, which he captioned: 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 the Somalian flag.鈥� Among are several gun groups associated with the extremist 鈥淚II Percent鈥� militia movement, as well as the (the acronym stands for 鈥淥perator As F---鈥�) pro-militia group.
The fourth man鈥檚 Facebook page, according to , shows him wearing military gear and toting various guns. He describes his occupation as 鈥淪aving the Constitution.鈥� According to Gettys, 鈥淪aiga Marine鈥� is a well-known presence on 4chan鈥檚 weapons-discussion forum.
Several black community leaders have lashed out at Minneapolis police for their handling of the incident. Minnesota NAACP leader Raeisha Williams on CNN on Tuesday, claiming: 鈥淲e believe the police department is facilitating the injustice, bullying the protesters. 鈥� And we also believe that they鈥檙e involved in this shooting. We know from blackboards and chat rooms and also videos that we have posted on our website that police that are from different counties, police from different districts have come down to entice the protesters, have come down to bully the protesters.鈥澛�
Police officials have defended their response reads: 鈥淒ozens of officers responded almost immediately attending to victims and secured the scene.聽 Additional resources were called in and are actively investigating the shootings, interviewing a multitude of witnesses.鈥�
Scott Seroka, a police department spokesman, told reporters: 鈥淎t this point in the investigation, we know that the people that have been arrested have no connection to the MPD.鈥�
