Alleged white supremacists who shot at Minneapolis protesters appear in court

Four men charged with shooting several people outside the Fourth Precinct in Minneapolis last week appeared in Hennepin County District Court Tuesday, as attorneys for two of them claimed their clients are “not racists” even though the attack was believed to have been racially motivated. Hundreds will rally this afternoon at the Hennepin County Government Center, at 4:00 pm, in the wake of County Attorney Mike Freeman’s failure to bring attempted murder charges against white supremacists who shot five protesters.

The shooter, 23-year-old Allen Lawrence Scarsella, faced five counts of second-degree assault with a risky weapon and one count of second-degree riot.

Allen “Lance” Scarsella and co-defendants Joseph Backman, Nathan Gustavsson and Daniel Macey all face felony charges of second-degree riot with a risky weapon.

The other defendants are white. The men have not been charged with hate crimes. Freeman says they considered hate crime charges, but the charges announced Monday carry a heftier sentence, with Freeman noting “this is the most serious crime we can charge under the circumstances”. But, he said: “The feds have got some different statutes”. Eighteen-year-old Wesley Martin watched closely as each suspect had his bail set.

Martin said he believes Scarsella “should have gotten charged with way more stuff” – but added that he didn’t believe there was an intent to kill. “That basically black lives don’t matter”. Gustavsson was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail and Macey was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail Tuesday night, according to jail records.

The group has been holding daily demonstrations to protest the fatal police shooting of Clark, who they said was handcuffed when he was shot in the head.

Demonstrators camped outside a Minneapolis police station since Clark’s shooting have said the shooting of the protesters a block away left them undeterred.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but the language they use, and what they say about fellow Americans, citizens, are just not acceptable’.

“And yes we are locked and loaded”, Scarsella’s friend said in the video.

Scarsella’s phone also contained a stream of text messages discussing plans to disrupt the protest and livestream the confrontation.