The men charged Monday (Nov. 30) for shooting up a Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis last month, left a trail of incriminating evidence. Authorities found that the group laid out their plans through Reddit.com, and 4Chan, and text messages.
The four suspects have been identified as Allen Scarsella, 23; Joseph Backman, 27, Nathan Gustavsson, 21, and Daniel Macey, 26.
“Investigators have viewed a 4Chan website e-mail string where participants discussed going to the BLM protests to “stir things up” and “cause commotion,’” court documents state. “Participants were encouraged to dress normal and look like the protesters but were told to ‘feel free to carry.’”
Further search of their correspondence revealed the following: “Investigators also viewed a video made by J.S. and Scarsella on their way to the protest on November 19th. They refer to African Americans in derogatory terms, say they are going to do some ‘reverse cultural enriching’ and ‘make the fire rise.’ Scarsella says they are on a ‘search and recovery mission’ and J.S. displays a handgun and ends the video with the words ‘stay white.’”
Several text messages were recovered from the four suspects. According to the docs, “There were numerous texts between Scarsella, Blackman and Nathan Wayne Gustavsson Defendant herein, setting up plans for going back to the protests on November 23, 2015.” In one text Gustavsson wrote “I know how to make big news or get them to disperse,” and “I have an idea to really stir sh*t up.”
The five shooting victims were all Black men ranging from ages 19 to 45. None of them sustained life threatening injuries.
As for the suspects, they remain in custody on second-degree riot charges and have admitted to being at the shooting scene. Ringleader Scarsella confessed to his girlfriend that he shot five people. He faces five felony counts including second-degree rioting with a dangerous armed weapon, and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm.
The men are expected to appear in court sometime today.
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