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FBI reveals hidden network accused of killing cops, torching police station, trying to start civil war in America

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According to a federal indictment, the killing of a federal officer in Oakland, the shooting of a police station in Minneapolis, and a plot to supply Hamas with weapons were not isolated incidents. 

A photo captured a protester running in front of the burning 3rd precinct building of the Minneapolis Police Department during a protest that took place back on May 28th.  The protester, identified as a young man, had come to the protest that was being held in response to the death of George Floyd.

He was wearing a tactical vest on his chest and a skull mask over his face. According to reports, in grainy video footage captured outside of the 3rd precinct on the night of May 28th, the man can be seen pulling out an AK-47 style rifle and blasting 13 shots into the police building.

On Friday, October 23rd, federal officials issued a complaint against 26-year-old Ivan Harrison Hunter, from Texas, who they say is the man in the video. Hunter now faces one count of participating in a riot, with a sentence of up to five years in prison.

Along with the riot charge, federal officials unsealed an affidavit accusing Hunter of being part of a loose nationwide network of violent extremists known as “boogaloo” boys (bois).

According to authorities, the extremists connected and communicated through social media apps, including Facebook, to plot and glorify shocking violence. 

These plots include killing a federal officer in Oakland and a scheme to supply Hamas with weapons to use against U.S. soldiers. Authorities said that just a few hours after allegedly shooting up the 3rd precinct in Minneapolis, Hunter messaged an associate in California, Steven Carrillo. His message said:

“Boog.”

Carrillo responded back:

“Did.”

Hunter said:

“Go for police buildings.”

Carillo wrote:

“I did better lol.”

According to authorities, shortly before that message exchange, Carrillo had shot and killed Federal Protective Service officer, David Patrick Underwood, in Oakland.

The affidavit also suggests evidence of a development that many have long suspected, that the so-called boogaloo boys may not be just disconnected extremists who share a mutual love for Hawaiian shirts and chaos, but that they have built nationwide systems to coordinate acts of violence and terror.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino said:

“This now tells us the Boogaloo Bois are more than just a bunch of unconnected extremists. It’s a network for extremists who communicate in real time around terror plots and attacks.”

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the boogaloo boys emerged from “antigovernment and white power online spaces in the early 2010s.” The have at times called for a second Civil War and are well known for wearing floral Hawaiian shirts with camouflage fatigues as well as subscribing to a range of extremist ideas.

The criminal complaint filed reveals a network across the country whose members have been directly linked with deadly acts, hoping to incite even more violence across the nation. Although the group used a variety of social media apps to communicate, the relied heavily on Facebook. 

On June 30th, Facebook announced that it was banning the anti-government network from its platform. Despite the ban, much damage had already been done. Because of Facebook, the group had greatly expanded using the network. 

Now, groups like the boogaloo boys can simply move their network out of Facebook and into other encrypted apps and networks where they can continue to plot violent acts. According to reports, it was a May 26th Facebook post that prompted Hunter to drop everything, grab his AK-47 style rifle, and make the 1,000 mile drive from Austin to Minneapolis. The post read:

“I need a headcount.”

Hunter replied:

“72 hours out.”

Authorities said that the Facebook post Hunter responded to was posted by Michael Soloman, a 30-year-old, who along with Benjamin Ryan Teeter, is accused of trying to sell weapons to someone they believed was a member of Hamas. 

Allegedly, the two considered becoming “mercenaries” for the terrorist group in order to raise money to fund the boogaloo movement. As he headed to Minneapolis from North Carolina, Teeter posted on Facebook:

“Lock and load boys. Boog flags are in the air and the national network is going off.”

According to the indictment, Hunter was identified as the shooter by a “cooperating defendant.”

On June 1st, Carrillo was being sought by law enforcement after allegedly killing a federal officer in Oakland. Officials said Carrillo is believed to have taken advantage of the massive protests that have erupted across the country to “kill cops” to try and spark a civil war.

Meanwhile, Hunter reportedly boasted of committing violent acts, claiming that he had “burned police stations with black panthers in Minneapolis.” He wrote:

“Want something to change? Start risking felonies for what is good.”

According to the criminal complaint, Hunter referred to himself as a “terrorist” and claimed that he and Carrillo were members of the “Happy Friends Group,” a team that would respond with violence if police tried to take their guns away.

Months later after Hunter learned that Teeter and Soloman were arrested over their alleged plot to sell weapons to Hamas, the 26-year-old told a confidential informant working with the FBI that it was “time to start shooting” and that he was willing to “go down shooting.”

Between the presidential debates, the election and the pending confirmation hearings of Amy Coney Barrett, there is plenty of kindling to be added to an already burning fire of civil unrest coming from far-left ideologies, such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa. 

As such, the National Guard has already started prepping two military police (MP) units from Arizona and Alabama to be ready to deploy within 24 hours if requested by the governor of another state.

While leadership for the National Guard did not provide a specific reason behind the increased readiness, one can speculate that the events of the next few 30+ days was the catalyst. 

The MPs will serve as a Quick or Rapid Reaction Force (QRF/RRF). 

As reported by Stars and Stripes: 

“According to the Guard, about 600 troops — 300 in both Alabama and Arizona — will be ready to deploy within 24 hours if requested by a governor in another state.

And Guard leaders have also bought more than $200,000 in new protective equipment, and have increased troop training on proper procedures in dealing with protests.

The moves come as Defense Department and National Guard leaders work to address shortfalls that were identified in the military response to the June protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Military reviews of the response to the protests found problems with coordination between various state and federal government and law enforcement agencies — which at times slowed down troop movements.”

Stars and Stripes highlighted the conversation that Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy had with the Associated Press regarding the use of the National Guard earlier this year.

At the height of deployments this year, there were over 43,000 Guard members deployed across 34 states and Washington, DC. The current numbers are roughly 3,200 across 10 states. 

“Coordination and communication were the probably the things that we’ll look back on and see very challenging,” said Secretary McCarthy. 

Eleven states indicated that they were prepared to share their National Guard elements.

“But the problem with that is how quickly can you marshal them together, ensure they have the appropriate training, ensure they have the appropriate equipment, understand the task you’re going to give them?” said McCarthy. “It’s American streets. It could turn violent. It was an incredibly challenging thing.”

We have already seen the arguments from many on the left that the Trump administration was turning our soldiers against our own citizenry.  

As difficult as it may seem, the men and women in all branches of our armed services, to include the Guard and the Reserves took an oath. And that oath starts with a solemn pledge to “defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic,” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”

But that hardly means that the President is “weaponizing the military” to control American citizens. 

That means that yes, the military can be used to stop those that plan to subvert the Constitution, even if those subverts are Americans. 

At the high-water mark in June, President Trump was having serious conversations about invoking the Insurrection Act. 

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters that we were not at the level of violence in our streets and that it should only be deployed “in the most urgent and dire of situations.”

“We are not in one of those situations now,” he said. 

That was in June. Law Enforcement Today looked for additional comments from the top civilian from the Department of Defense, but could not find one. It would be interesting to see if his thoughts have changed considering 100+ consecutive nights of violent riots in Portland. 

If the Guard elements from Arizona or Alabama are deployed, here is how the Guard would manage it, as reported by Stars and Stripes. 

“Lt. Gen. Mark Sasseville, vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the Guard employs a graduated approach, with states using their own troops first, and then, if more help is needed, they request forces from other states within their region. If more support is needed, then governors reach out to states further away.

‘That makes sense because typically the states have good relations with the neighboring states,’ said Sasseville. ‘Speed becomes an element of this discussion.’

Guard officials said the forces in Alabama would respond in the eastern half of the country, and those in Arizona would respond in the west, and their deployment window at this point extends through the end of this year.

‘A big thing that we’ve done differently is being able to move faster,’ said Sasseville, adding that the Guard also had to buy equipment to replace protective gear for some units.”

According to that same interview, Guard units have spent more than $200,000 on protective equipment. 

But there are those who seem to be completely fine with the violence in their cities and think that the need to deploy Guardsmen is merely a talking point for Fox News. 

If you have read Law Enforcement Today for more than a minute, you have seen the number of stories dedicated to the violence in Portland. The facts do not lie. It was well into 100 consecutive nights. The loss to property is costly. The loss of life and injuries sustained by police and innocent bystanders is unacceptable. 

Unless of course, like Tim in the tweet above, you are a fan of the unrest and the violence. 

Civil War isn’t coming to America. It’s already here.

This editorial is brought to you by Kyle S. Reyes, the National Spokesman for Law Enforcement Today.  

—

Two sheriff’s deputies in Compton, California are ambushed while sitting in their patrol car, each suffering a gunshot wound to the head. Only by the grace of God did they survive.

A Trump supporter is gunned down in cold blood in Portland, Oregon as anti-American anarchists applaud the act.

Diners at a restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh are accosted by Black Lives Matter protesters who demand they raise their fists in support or kneel in submission.

This is America 2020 and while some claim we are not actually engaged in a civil war, the facts seem to indicate otherwise.

An opinion piece in the Washington Times posed the question if we are able to avoid civil war on American streets. We believe we are already there.

According to Gary Anderson in a piece last month, he said that when the Cold War with the former Soviet Union ended, historians at the time predicted there would be a “period of international peace through globalization.”

Anderson was the chief of staff of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and a leader of the Marine Corps urban warfare experimentation.

Others however, including some officers in the United States Marines believed that non-state actors in nations destined to fail without the competition between the US and USSR would engage in a form of war. They used the term Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) to describe engaging an enemy that wasn’t state sanctioned however would be armed as such.

The military officers believed that any such conflict would likely occur in a Third World nation, however Anderson noted the first conflict actually occurred in Europe upon the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. Other countries followed afterward, such as Somalia, Liberia, Yemen, and Sierra Leone.

During the military’s preparation for a 4GW type conflict, proponents of such training believed that any such conflict would likely take place in urban areas. One such proponent was Gen. Charles Krulak, who would eventually become the commandant of the Marine Corps.

In 1995, when he took over the Corps, Krulak directed the Corps to prepare for urban combat, and noted that didn’t preclude such a war on the streets of America.

Anderson, who served as a U.N. observer in Lebanon, believed that Krulak was actually on to something with his assessment of potential future violence in America’s cities because he had witnessed the exact same thing happen in that country.

He noted that in the mid-1970s, Lebanon, which at one time was a beacon in the Middle East was, as he described transformed “to a hellhole of incoherent violence because the nation’s political and religious factions were allowed to settle their differences by violence rather than through political discourse.”

How similar is that to what is currently going on in the streets of America in our major cities, where Democrats have basically taken a hands-off approach to the violence wreaking havoc in their cities? We have often compared what is going on in cities such as Portland and Seattle with Beirut, which turned into a third-world hell hole.

Where Beirut was allowed to virtually disintegrate when leaders took a hands-off approach and stopped enforcing the rule of law, violent factions—in the United States think Black Lives Matter and Antifa—were allowed to establish themselves without fear of retribution. Notice any similarities?

For example, back at the beginning of the summer, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan took a hands-off approach as anarchists claimed a six-block area of the city as a so-called “autonomous zone,” and only took action when things ran out of control in that area.

Durkan, who likened the zone to some type of modern-day “Woodstock” even said she foresaw the “summer of love” when the zone was claimed and renamed CHAZ. She quickly became the laughingstock of most normal thinking Americans.

Anderson noted that “nations fail when their leaders stop enforcing the rule of law and allow violent factions the legitimacy to begin to establish effective rule in the territory that they control; this undermines the mechanisms of governance such as the police, other security services and the courts.”

Does this sound at all familiar? Cries across the country of “defund the police,” with some cities actually doing so such as Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles, even as crime explodes in those cities.

What about governors and district attorneys opening their jails under the guise of “safety” so that inmates do not become susceptible to COVID-19? Commit a crime in cities such as St. Louis, Chicago, or again New York? Chances are you’ll be released and the DA will drop the charges.

Things have become so absurd that a district attorney in Contra Costa County in California is now asking investigators to determine “need” before charging people with looting, justifying that perhaps the looters “needed” the merchandise they lifted.

Portland, Oregon has endured over 100 days of nightly violence. Still, Mayor Ted Wheeler and other Democrats throughout the country blame the police—or President Trump—for the unmitigated violence.

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The president has repeatedly offered federal troops to that city and repeatedly Wheeler has turned him down. It got to the point where the Acting Director of Homeland Security Chad Wolf directed federal law enforcement officers to protect the federal courthouse in the city.

Yet Wheeler somehow claimed that those officers had incited the riots, which were well underway by that time.

Both Portland and Seattle have effectively eviscerated their police departments, implementing rules of engagement for police officers that are not only insufficient but they are also extremely dangerous.

They removed the ability of officers to utilize various mitigation techniques at their disposal to put down the riots that have seen hundreds of officers injured and which has led to a mass exodus of officers from both departments.

In Portland, as much as the police do not respect Wheeler neither do the rioting thugs.

Wheeler apparently thinks that he is buying himself some good graces from the anarchists by bending over and effectively grabbing his ankles, but his sign of weakness has led to those same thugs going to Wheeler’s apartment complex and asking for his resignation.

Wheeler also has a city commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty who thinks herself some kind of modern-day Malcolm X and who effectively undermines Wheeler for her own self-aggrandizement.

Why have these rioters become emboldened?

Part of it has come from the fact that leftist prosecutors are refusing to prosecute them, but part of it also has to come from the fact that all law enforcement has been demonized by the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, LeBron James, the professional sports leagues, and James Clyburn.

They have been referred to as Nazis, stormtroopers and the Gestapo.

Anderson notes that these insurgents, with the help of social media such as Twitter, which refuses to deplatform the radicals, has become “better organized, militarized and increasingly armed,” which has led citizens to take up arms themselves.

The feeling is that the police, who have largely “stood down” in many communities across the country, may no longer be able to help.

Indeed in some communities, calls to 911 have gone unanswered as cops are left overwhelmed with rioting mobs. This is particularly true, he says in the Pacific Northwest, which has really turned into “ground zero” in what can only be described as a virtual urban warfare zone.

All of this of course puts President Trump in a bit of a pickle. Clearly, the president is on the side of the police and the rule of law. It is likely that a majority of Americans who  do not identify with a “D” next to their name would support Trump taking decisive federal action to put down this quasi-insurrection once and for all.

An overwhelming majority of American police officers are squarely behind the president because they understand that Democrats simply do not support them and have thrown down with the mob.

Anderson says, and we agree 100% that the president needs to take decisive action, and sooner rather than later. This has frankly gone on for far too long.

In cities where local leaders fail to control the violence, either because they can’t or more particularly where they won’t, the president should implement the Insurrection Act in specific targeted areas.

By so doing, the president could direct federal administrators to take control of the cities and if necessary use federal troops to do so. By putting these cities under federal jurisdiction, it would take the namby pamby political hack district attorneys out of the loop and place these anarchist scumbags in the federal system.

Of course, if President Trump does that, with a complicit media cheering against him, Democrats will accuse him of being a “dictator” and trying to control the election, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the election and everything to do with doing his job.

It’s interesting however that Democrat governors, who have been acting like dictators drunk with power by their overreaching coronavirus executive orders literally would have zero room to talk.

The president would simply be filling the leadership void left by spineless, gutless city leaders who think they are buying some “tolerance” by showing no leadership and exposing themselves as weasels who can be walked on. It is the ultimate sign of weakness.

Contrast Wheeler with the mayor of Rochester, New York, Anderson says. She took decisive action against the rioters by banning after-dark gatherings of more than five people and ordered police to not aid demonstrators in acts such as blocking interstate highways. While the demonstrations continue in the city, the more violent riots have pretty much stopped.

We still have time to prevent a full-scale civil war on our streets, but honestly time is running short. Joe Biden in fact actually warned that if President Trump is re-elected, don’t expect the violence to stop. What Biden didn’t say is that if HE is elected, don’t expect the violence to stop either. In Biden, you have Ted Wheeler only on a national scale.

Biden is clearly weak and will easily be manipulated by the radical wing of the Democrat party, the same people who are putting up bail money for rioters in cities such as Minneapolis—like his running mate, Kamala Harris.

The Civil War took an estimated 700,000 lives. It is fair to say that a civil war in 2020 will take many more lives than that. For what?

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About The Author

Jenna Curren, Ed.D., is an assistant professor in criminal justice studies. As chair of a CJ advisory board, Jenna actively partners with members of the community to integrate current students into internships and prospective law enforcement careers. Prior to working in academics, Jenna held various custody and treatment positions and was a lieutenant for the CT Department of Correction. Throughout her tenure, she supervised men, women, youth and mental health offenders. A C.E.R.T and honor guard member, as well as a training officer, Jenna has 10 years of experience in the criminal justice and human services fields.

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