Prosecutors charge 4 in shooting of Minneapolis protesters

A judge on Wednesday gave the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office until midday on Monday to make a decision on charges against Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23; Joseph Martin Backman, 27; Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21; and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26.

Scarsella is being held on a $500,000 bail, and the other three on $250,000 bail.

They are to appear in court Tuesday. Scarsella, Backman and Gustavsson are white, and Macey is Asian. 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.

Today County Attorney Mike Freeman announced riot and assault charges against the 4 armed white supremacists who shot 5 protesters at the ‪#‎4thPrecinctShutDown‬, but declined to charge them with attempted murder, hate crimes, or domestic terrorism. The man claims he and his friends went to the protest with the intention of live-streaming it, and said the altercation began when protesters tried to get them to leave. The phone’s messages showed extensive text correspondence between the four defendants outlining details of their plans to disrupt the protest and their communications after they shot five protesters.

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 state agency that’s investigating the shooting, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said it’s looking into whether Clark was restrained.

While there have been flashpoints between protesters and officers outside the 4th Precinct the past two weeks, the scene was largely peaceful during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. According to the criminal complaint, all 4 have admitted in jail phone conversations that they were present at the time of the shootings. Clark died the next day.

A police video and recording from private citizens shows four suspects immediately prior to the shooting, but not the actual shooting. Witnesses and protesters, however, say Clark was on the ground and in handcuffs when he was shot.

“We’re not saying end the protests” over Jamar Clark’s shooting, Belton said. Investigators also discovered a racist video made by Scarsella and an acquaintance.

“It is clear to us that the safest path forward for everyone – protesters, residents, officers and our entire neighborhood and city – is for the encampment to end”, the statement reads.

In spite of the shooting, Black Lives Matter activists remain defiant and have vowed to stay camped in front of the Fourth Precinct police station until an officer is arrested for Clark’s death.

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 officers in Richfield in December 2011. She also said barricades that have closed a portion of the street are impeding access for emergency vehicles and snowplows.

The lawsuit also names the city of Richfield and two other officers.