Four men charged over shooting of Jamar Clark protesters in Minneapolis

Twenty-three-year-old Allen “Lance” Scarsella of Lakeville was charged with one count of second-degree riot and five counts of second-degree assault.

Freeman said his office charged the men with what the evidence supported, and that charging them with hate crimes would not add “one iota of time” to their possible sentences.

Investigators say they identified Scarsella and another man on surveillance video taken November 19, and that the two were videotaping and antagonizing protesters while wearing camouflage and face masks. The man, the witness said, was “punched in the face by the crowd” and as they were being escorted out, they opened fire.

“Investigators have viewed a 4Chan website e-mail string where participants discussed going to the BLM protests to “stir things up” and “cause commotion”. After the shooting, Scarsella allegedly confessed to an officer with the Mankato, Minn., police department with whom he was friendly, who urged him to turn himself in to Minneapolis cops. They have also said no footage exists that shows the shooting in its entirety – just pieces from an ambulance, a mobile police camera, public housing cameras and citizens’ cellphones. Attorney Alex DeMarco, who’s representing Backman, says his client is not a white supremacist, and Backman’s connection to the others charged with him is tenuous at best.

The encampment began soon after 24-year-old Jamar Clark, who was black, died in a confrontation with police officers. The police union disputes that, saying there was a struggle and Clark grabbed an officer’s gun.

The alleged shooter is accused of five counts of assault, while the other three are facing felony rioting charges.

Mayor Betsy Hodges, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and the Urban League’s Steven Belton have asked protesters to end their siege.

Several people are still protesting at the police precinct and plan to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon. The other man were charged with second-degree riot.

Prosecutors in Minnesota must soon decide whether to file charges against four men arrested last week after shots were fired at demonstrators protesting the killing of a black man by police. They have admitted in phone conversations from jail that they were present at the shooting incident.

The lawsuit alleges that Dustin Schwarze, who was working as a Richfield police officer, used a stun gun on a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by Richfield officers in December 2011. Two already have come about: release of names of the two officers involved in the Clark shooting and the launch of an independent federal investigation. The lawsuit says Schwarze also threatened to beat that passenger and another if they left the vehicle.

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