A Texas man who says he is affiliated with the anti-government “boogaloo” movement pleaded guilty Thursday to opening fire on a Minneapolis police station last year during civil unrest over the death of George Floyd.
George Floyd was a US citizen of the African-American community who was choked to death by a white policeman, Derek Chauvin.
A Texas man who says he is affiliated with the anti-government “boogaloo” movement pleaded guilty Thursday to opening fire on a Minneapolis police station last year during civil unrest over the death of George Floyd.
Ivan Harrison Hunter, a self-proclaimed member of the “boogaloo bois,” is accused of firing 13 rounds from a semi-automatic assault-style rifle on the Third Precinct police station while protesters were inside the building.
Hunter, of Boerne, Texas, pleaded guilty to a federal riot charge. A judge ordered a presentence investigation.
Floyd, who was Black, died on Memorial Day 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for nearly eight minutes. The incident sparked protests around the world. Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter charges and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
On June 3, 2020, police in Austin, Texas, stopped a pickup truck for multiple traffic violations. Hunter, who was a passenger in the truck, had six loaded magazines for a semiautomatic rifle in a tactical vest he was wearing. Officers also found multiple firearms in the truck.
Hunter was arrested several days later, after agents learned of his online affiliation with another person with ties to the boogaloo movement, Steven Carrillo. Federal prosecutors have charged Carrillo in the death of a federal protective officer in Oakland, California, during a protest over Floyd's death.
Boogaloo supporters, who use the loose movement's name as a slang term for a second civil war or collapse of civilization, frequently show up at protests armed with rifles and wearing Hawaiian shirts under body armor.