Feds investigating whether criminal actors exerting 'command and control' over unrest as bricks thrown at cops
From WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
Federal law enforcement officials are probing whether “criminal actors” are coordinating violent activities during protests and are looking into reports that “rocks and bricks” have been dropped off to throw at police and other law enforcement as cities across the country grapple with the uptick in violence, a senior Department of Justice official said.
"You see the hallmarks... We're trying to see if there's a coordinated command and control, you see those bread crumbs and that's what we're trying to verify," said the Department of Justice official.
There have been more than 100 arrests in Washington as a result of the protests and riots related to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, according to federal officials. Around 20 of those people were not charged. Meanwhile, 70 to 75 people have been charged with crimes such as assault, breaking and entering, destruction of property and other violations.
That person added that officials are looking at "trends" and the possibility that extremist groups have been involved in directing violent acts in recent days.
Another DOJ official said leads being pursued and cases being developed -- related to Antifa and other extremists groups -- by several different U. S. Attorneys offices.
The official declined to elaborate further because these cases and investigations are ongoing.
It comes amid growing instances of objects being hurled at police across the country.
In New York, officials described more violent acts by protesters. New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said Wednesday that some of plastic bottles that have been thrown at police are often filled with cement. He also described multiple incidents of Molotov cocktails thrown at buildings with people inside.
He also described how two sites were found in Brooklyn and Queens where pre-staged bricks were placed and transported to protests. Shea said construction sites have been burglarized in Manhattan – where bricks were believed to be taken.
In Tampa, there were reports that members of the bomb team found mortars in bushes downtown, and bricks and other items were hidden in trash cans to throw at police officers.
In Seattle, a video out up online by an anarchist shows that around midnight, a crowd o... (Read more)
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