Evidence Reveals Minneapolis Protest Shooting Suspect as Racist Scaredy Cat

Officials have filed charges today against four men accused of shooting into a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis a week ago. Authorities have also charged Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, Joseph Martin Backman, and Daniel Thomas Macey with riot counts.

County Attorney Mike Freeman said his office didn’t have enough evidence to reach the threshold to charge any of the men with attempted murder or a hate crime, but the USA attorney’s office can consider federal hate crime charges.

Authorities in Minnesota said four men had been charged after gunfire injured five people last week near a protest against the death of an unarmed black man shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers. “We will prosecute them to the furthest extent of the law”.

Protesters have demanded that investigators release any video they have of the shooting.

Media coverage of the entire situation the past few weeks certainly shows tension between Minneapolis police and the Black Lives Matter movement. A group of protesters tried to escort them away before eight shots rang out. Some community members have alleged he was handcuffed when he was shot, which police dispute, and have called for video to be released. Demonstrators also say they had been told to be on the lookout for white supremacists wearing masks or camouflage clothing and said the people filming the protests matched those descriptions.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges is urging protesters to end their encampment at the city’s 4th Police Precinct.

Scarsella, Gustavsson and Backman are white, while Macey is Asian, police said.

If convicted, Scarsella faces up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines on the riot charge and up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines on each assault charge.

When a reporter asked whether prosecutors were considering hate crimes charges as well, Freeman said it would be “improper” for prosecutors to pursue more charges.

City leaders say the occupation of the 4th Precinct has turned into a safety hazard.

Police said the incident began when they were called to North Minneapolis around 12:45am on November 15 following a report of a domestic assault.

Clark was shot at a time of heightened debate in the United States over police use of lethal force, especially against black people.

Freeman is referring to video the men allegedly made on their way to the 4th Precinct police station several days before the shooting, where demonstrators are in their third week of protests against the police shooting of Clark.

According to the complaint against Allen “Lance” Scarsella, above right, his phone contained racist images and “many photos of himself with guns” when police searched it after his arrest last week. But, he said: “The feds have got some different statutes….”

Minnesota state police and the FBI are investigating Clark’s shooting.