Only two days after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in May, a masked man was seen holding an umbrella breaking windows and helping to incite violence during protests in Minneapolis. Now, the city police department believes it has identified the man as a white supremacist, linking the suspect to the Hells Angels and Aryan Cowboys. The man has not yet been charged.
Viral videos captured the suspect, nicknamed “Umbrella Man,” breaking the glass windows of an Automatic Zone in south Minneapolis on May 27, ignoring people’s pleas for them to stop. He is also responsible for the spray paint, “Free sh ** for everyone zone” on the store doors, police said.
Not long after, incidents of looting and arson were reported, until that night the protests were “relatively peaceful,” according to officials. Police said a fire started in the Automatic Zone was the first in a series of citywide fires and looting.
The store was located in front of the third city precinct, which burned protesters after the police evacuated.
Minneapolis police arson investigator Erika Christensen filed a registration affidavit with the Hennepin County District Court on Monday, requesting records of the suspect’s cell phone to confirm his location at the time of the incident.
“This person’s actions created an atmosphere of hostility and tension … this individual’s sole purpose was to incite violence,” wrote Christensen.
Police worked for weeks to identify the suspect, who was dressed in black clothing from head to toe, including a gas mask, with a hammer in one hand and an umbrella in the other. Christensen said he saw countless hours of social media imagery in a failed attempt to identify him.
Earlier this month, the police department received a tip, naming a 32-year-old man as a member of the Hell’s Angels who wanted to “sow discord and racial unrest.” Christensen said the photos, including a driver’s license, match the video and descriptions of the man.
Christensen confirmed that the suspect is a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and an associate of Aryan Cowboys, a gang of white supremacist prisoners, which according to the Anti-Defamation League is headquartered in Minnesota and Kentucky. Police also suspect the man was involved in a recent incident in which a Muslim woman said she was harassed by members of Aryan Cowboys in Stillwater, Minnesota.
Stephen Maturen / Getty Images
Last month, a member of the St. Paul Police Department faced so many accusations that he was the “Umbrella Man” that the department was forced to issue a denial, including time-stamped surveillance videos.
Several members of the Trump administration have tried to blame Democrats for violence and vandalism during racial justice protests across the country. Attorney General William Barr claimed, without evidence, that many of the protests were led by “far-left extremists.”
Following the news of the suspect’s apparent identification, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and advisory director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, tweeted that it is “a good time to ask AG Barr about the department’s investigation of violent supremacist groups. whites. ”
Minneapolis police rejected a request to comment on the ongoing investigation.
.
