Power

Four Men Charged for Shooting Minneapolis Black Lives Matter Activists

One of the suspects was charged with one count of rioting while armed with a dangerous weapon and five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. The others each face a riot charge.

One of the suspects was charged with one count of rioting while armed with a dangerous weapon and five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. The others each face a riot charge. Shutterstock

Hennepin County prosecutors on Monday charged four men connected to the November 23 shootings at Black Lives Matter activists protesting the police-involved death of an unarmed Black man in Minnesota.

Five Black men were shot at the protest outside a Minneapolis police station where they were demonstrating following the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark. The protesters’ injuries were not life threatening.

A judge last week gave the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office until Monday to decide whether to charge Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23; Joseph Martin Backman, 27; Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21; and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26. A criminal complaint says that Scarsella is the one who fired the shots that injured the protesters.

Activists allege that the four suspects were white supremacists. Three of the men are white and one is Asian, according to police.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced the charges during a Monday press conference. Scarsella is charged with one count of rioting while armed with a dangerous weapon and five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. Backman, Gustavsson, and Macey each face a riot charge. The four men will appear in the Hennepin County District Court for the first time on Tuesday.

Days before the shooting, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis obtained and posted a video to Facebook of two masked men in a vehicle waving a gun and using racial slurs as they threatened to attend the protest.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges called for an end to protests outside the police precinct, saying that the protesters’ blockades were obstructing access for emergency vehicles and that ongoing fires are causing air quality problems. Protesters, however, are vowing to stay until their demands are met, one of which is the release of the video showing Clark’s shooting.

Clark was fatally shot by police while they were responding to a domestic violence call between Clark and his girlfriend. Clark interfered while the paramedics were trying to treat his girlfriend, according to reports. Some onlookers say that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot in the head by one of the two officers on the call, either Mark Ringgenberg or Dustin Schwarze. Police deny that Clark was handcuffed at the time, and both officers are on leave due to the investigation.

This incident comes in the midst of national unrest over police treatment of Black people. Last week, a white Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke, was charged with first-degree murder for the 2014 shooting death of a Black teenager, Laquan McDonald. The charge came just before a video of McDonald’s shooting was released, which sparked protests in Chicago.