A white vigilante who waged terror at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Minnesota in 2015, was found guilty of shooting five protesters this past week. Bloomington native Allen Scarsella was convicted on assault and rioting charges in what a jury determined was a premeditated attack that was racially motivated on Wednesday, February 1.
Scarsella was one of four people arrested following the shooting, which occurred during a rally organized in protest of the shooting death of Jamar Clark by police on November 15, 2015. The group, who showed up at the rally wearing masks, had reportedly scouted out a protest before arriving armed among those demanding justice outside of a North Minneapolis police station. Scarsella's attorneys defended that the shooting was an incident of self-defense, triggered by an attempted attack on him by the five Black victims while he was live streaming the protest. But evidence that revealed he had gone to the rally intent on opening fire convinced jurors, who convened for seven hours before coming up with the verdict, otherwise.
Footage taken at the protest rally showed Scarsella waiving a gun and spewing racially charged statements. The jury also got to consider video recorded on their car ride over, in which he declared himself "on a mission" and "locked and loaded." Transcripts of Scarsella's text messages also reveal him having sent a message that read “Cool – the gun I’m getting is proven to kill black guys in a single shot.”
Scarsella's three accomplices, Daniel Macey, Nathan Gustavsson and Joseph Backman have also been charged in the incident and await trial, as they've each plead not guilty to second-degree rioting and aiding an offender. Scarsella faces up to 19-years in prison. His sentencing date has been scheduled for March 10.
Source: youtube.com
