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Nine members of an Antifa group were indicted Friday and seven more were charged in connection with the attempted murder of a Texas police officer during a July attack on an immigration detention facility, the Justice Department said.
Charged in the 12-count incident were suspected North Texas Antifa Cell members Cameron Arnold, Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada with multiple offenses for their roles related to the July 4 attack at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.
In addition, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas are charged with one count of providing material support to terrorists. A sixteenth defendant, Seth Sikes, was charged in late October with one count of providing material support to terrorists.
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“Anyone who targets law enforcement or uses violence to advance an anarchist agenda will face the full weight of the federal government,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. “These are domestic terrorists, and under President Trump’s leadership, we’re finding them and bringing them to justice.”
The nine indicted members are charged with rioting with the intent to commit an act of violence, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive, attempted murder of officers, discharging a firearm during, and in relation to, and in furtherance of a crime of violence, corruptly concealing a document or record and conspiracy to conceal documents.
“This is the first indictment in the country against a group of violent Antifa cell members,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson.
The defendants were members of a North Texas Antifa Cell, part of a larger militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups that call for the overthrow of the U.S government and law enforcement.
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“Antifa is a terrorist organization and today’s guilty pleas — for violent assaults against law enforcement — mark a turning point in how the Department of Justice is approaching Antifa cases,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital. “At President Trump’s direction, we are prosecuting Antifa like we prosecute groups such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13. Expect similar cases to come as we dismantle Antifa.”
Federal prosecutors said 11 of the suspects rioted and attacked the detention center, which was being used to house illegal immigrants awaiting deportation.
They were dressed in “black bloc”— dark clothing with head and face coverings that concealed their identities, authorities said. Once at the facility, they began shooting off and throwing fireworks at the building and vandalizing vehicles and a guard shack on the federal property.
An Alvarado police officer responded to the chaos after correctional officers called 911. When the officer issued commands to Baumann, Song allegedly yelled, “get to the rifles!” and then opened fire on the officer, who was struck in the neck as the unarmed correctional officers ducked and ran for cover.
Song, who many in the Antifa cell looked to as the leader, fled the scene, but was captured by law enforcement on July 15, prosecutors said.
Before the attack, the Antifa cell allegedly acquired over 50 firearms in the Dallas and Fort Worth area, prosecutors said.
To conceal their plan, they used an encrypted messaging app to coordinate with each other that had auto-delete functions, permanently deleting some Antifa Cell members’ communications. They also used monikers in group chats to hide their identities, and some of the planning chats included only trusted participants.
The Antifa members allegedly conducted reconnaissance and discussed what to bring to the riot, including firearms, medical kits, and fireworks.
The nine defendants who were indicted are scheduled to appear in federal court to be arraigned on Dec. 3.
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