More than 30 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front wore masks, packed shin guards, shields and helmets, and loaded into a U-Haul truck that was heading toward an LGBTQ Pride event on Saturday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Lee White, the police chief of the North Idaho city, told The Washington Post he suspects they were headed there to riot. “They even had an operations plan to detail their actions once they arrived at the Pride event,” White told the newspaper on Sunday.
Authorities found at least one smoke grenade and metal poles similar to those used by insurrectionists on Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol. The 31 men now face misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot and possible other charges, White told the Post. The men are from the same rebranded group whose members drove into protesters demonstrating against white supremacy in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
RELATED STORY: Trial in lawsuit over 2017 Charlottesville violence lets community hold far right accountable
In the recent incident, an alleged leader of the group detailed his plan in a seven-page document describing how smoke would be used, White told The New York Times. He planned “a column forming on the outside of the park, proceeding inward, until barriers to approach are met” and “once an appropriate amount of confrontational dynamic has been established the column will disengage and head to Sherman.”
The avenue divides downtown Coeur d’Alene, the Times reported.
White said attendees of the Pride in the Park event the suspects were allegedly heading to “felt relatively safe, at least the event organizer did.”
“There were people walking around the event with long guns and handguns and bear spray and all kinds of things like that,” White told theTimes, adding: “That is legal in Idaho.”
A spokesperson with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office told The Washington Post all the suspects had bonded out of jail as of Sunday afternoon. They have until June 30 to set up court dates, CBS-affiliated KREM2 reported.
The county sheriff’s office is assisting the Coeur d’Alene Police Department in its investigation. Those arrested include Thomas Ryan Rousseau, a Texas man identified as the founder of the group, and Mitchell Frederick Wagner, a Missouri man accused of defacing a mural of Black leaders on a college campus in St. Louis, the Associated Press reported.
The suspects range in age from 20 to 40 years old, and they are said to have come from 13 states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
“We’ve been trying to sound this alarm since the Obama years that these groups are starting to organize, and they’re at the gates now,” Kurt Braddock, an American University professor researching violent extremist groups, told The Washington Post. “It’s a disservice to American security to ignore or minimize them any more.”
RELATED STORY: Data leak gives an inside look at neofascist Patriot Front: Clownish operations with military edge
Those arrested have been identified by the sheriff’s office as:
Jared Michael Boyce, of Springville, Utah; Nathan David Brenner, of Lewisville, Colorado; Colton Michael Brown, of Rovendale, Washington; Josiah Daniel Buster, of Watauga, Texas; Mishael Joshua Buster, of Spokane, Washington; Devin Wayne Center, of Fayetteville, Arkansas; Dylan Carter Corio, of Cheyenne, Wyoning; Winston North Durham, of Genesee, Idaho; Joseph Garret Garland, of Freeburg, Ilinois; Branden Mitchel Haney, of Kaysville, Utah; Richard Jacob Jessop, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; James Michael Johnson, of Concrete, Washington; James Julius Johnson, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Connor Patrick Moran, of Watauga, Texas; Kieran Padraig Morris, of Haslet, Texas; Lawrence Alexander Norman, of Prospect, Oregon; Justin Michael Oleary, of Des Moines, Washington; Cameron Kathan Pruitt, of Midway, Utah; Forrest Clark Rankin, of Wheat Ridge, Colorado; Thomas Rousseau, of Grapevine, Texas; Conor James Ryan, of Thornton, Colorado; Spencer Thomas Simpson, of Ellensburg, Washington; Alexander Nicholai Sisenstein, of Midvale, Utah; Derek Joseph Smith, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Dakota Ray Tabler, of West Valley City, Utah; Steven Derrick Tucker, of Haslet, Texas; Wesley Evan Van Horn, of Lexington, Alabama; Mitchell Wagner, of Florissant, Missouri; Nathaniel Taylor Whitfield, of Elk Ridge, Utah; Graham Jones Whitsom, of Haslet, Texas; and Robert Benjamin Whitted, of Conroe, Texas