Federal prosecutors in Las Vegas have charged three men alleged to be members of the far-right extremist “Boogaloo” movement with multiple state and federal violations of conspiracy to cause destruction during protests in Las Vegas, as well as possession of Molotov cocktails.
Charging documents say Stephen T. Parshall, aka “Kiwi,” 35; Andrew Lynam, 23; and William L. Loomis, 40, all of Las Vegas, were arrested Saturday on a state criminal complaint alleging conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, material support for committing an act of terrorism and multiple explosives violations.
The “Boogaloo” movement, which federal prosecutors describe as a “term used by extremists to signify a coming civil war and/or collapse of society,” has been linked to some online posts about protests over the death of George Floyd.
NBC News reported last weekend that members of the “Boogaloo” movement were seen at protests in states including Minnesota and Texas, as well as in Philadelphia.
The movement, which says it wants a second civil war organized around the word “boogaloo,” includes groups on mainstream internet platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Reddit, as well as fringe websites including 4chan, according to a report released Tuesday night by the Network Contagion Research Institute, an independent nonprofit of scientists and engineers that tracks and reports on misinformation and hate speech across social media.
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Nicholas Trutanich, the U.S. attorney for Nevada, said, “Violent instigators have hijacked peaceful protests and demonstrations across the country, including Nevada, exploiting the real and legitimate outrage over Mr. Floyd’s death for their own radical agendas.”
Charging documents say Lynam and Parshall came to the attention of the FBI in April when someone came forward concerned that the two men were going to conduct a terrorist attack. The FBI said it signed that person up as a confidential source.
Loomis would later come under investigation in May.
Documents say Lynam is an Army reservist, Parshall was in the Navy and Loomis was in the Air Force.
The three at various times, and not always together, all discussed various plots to either destroy an observation station at Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, destroy power substations, throw a smoke bomb at a ReOpen Las Vegas rally and other attacks.
On May 27, Loomis and Parshall along with the informant, went on a hike where they are alleged to have “discussed causing an incident to incite chaos and possibly a riot, in response to the death of a suspect (referring to George Floyd) in police custody in Minneapolis, MN.”
The plan was for Parshall and Loomis to “firebomb” a power substation to distract law enforcement so they could carry out their plan to incite a riot. The plan was ultimately dropped in favor of a new plan, and the trio, along with the informant, planned to take Molotov cocktails to a Black Lives Matter protest, instead.
“They wanted to use the momentum of the George Floyd death in police custody in the City of Minneapolis to hopefully stir enough confusion and excitement, that others see the two explosions and police presence and begin to riot in the streets out of anger,” the documents say.
But because the FBI was monitoring all of the planning through the confidential source, the documents, it was able to stop the plan from coming to fruition when an FBI SWAT team deployed and arrested Lynam, Loomis and Parshall.
