A man seen breaking windows in a viral video of the Minneapolis protests is suspected of being a known member of a group of white supremacists, police officers alleged in a search warrant affidavit. The man in question, Mitchell Carlson, has not been charged with a crime.
The video, shot on May 27, showed a man dressed in black methodically breaking windows of an AutoZone in Minneapolis during racial justice protests for the police murder of George Floyd. The man also spray-painted “free shit for everyone” on the doors of the building. The man appeared to be dressed as an anti-fascist, but was seen as a possible infiltrator or “outside agitator” when protesters attempted to question him about his activities. He became known as an “Umbrella Man” on social media along with debunked theories that he was a police officer trying to discredit the protests.
Now, in a search warrant statement first reported by The Minneapolis Star-TribuneThe police say they received a notice that the man is Mitchell Carlson, “a full member of the Hell’s Angels” and “a well-known associate of the Aryan cowboys. The Aryan Cowboys are a well-known prison gang from Minnesota and Kentucky “
Mitchell did not immediately respond to a voice message from The Daily Beast on Tuesday.
The search for Umbrella Man went months without a lead until investigators received a notice that he was a member of the Hells Angels that he “wanted to sow discord and racial unrest by breaking the windows” of the AutoZone, according to the search warrant affidavit. .
Although the search warrant does not charge Mitchell with a crime, he said investigators were searching for data from cell phone towers that would provide information on his whereabouts during the incident.
After Floyd was killed in Minneapolis police custody in late May, elected officials in Minneapolis and elsewhere accused so-called “outside agitators” of inciting violent chaos. Some of these allegations have failed. Despite initial reports that many people arrested in Minneapolis were from out of state, most were later revealed to be local, prompting activists to cite the “outside agitator” narrative as a means to discredit their movement. . However, some of the claims seemed to have a kernel of truth. Leaked police documents, reported by journalist Emma Best, reveal that gangs of white supremacists, specifically the Hells Angels and Aryan Cowboys, had also discussed posing as anti-fascists in Minneapolis to discredit them during the protests.
Carlson was involved in another recent incident, according to the affidavit: He was allegedly present when the Aryan Cowboys were accused of harassing a Muslim woman in late June.
Mitchell has a litany of previous arrests, many for traffic problems, but some for violent incidents. In February, he was accused of making terrorist threats and domestic abuse by strangulation. He was found guilty and sentenced at a misdemeanor level for the threats, but the charges of abuse were dismissed. In another case that month, he was convicted of domestic abuse.
A Facebook account that appeared to be his indicated long sympathy for the causes of white supremacy, including swastika memes and Nazi salutes.
The Minneapolis Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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