Member of far-right Boogaloo Bois arrested, accused of rioting during George Floyd protests

MINNEAPOLIS — Authorities have arrested a self-professed member of the anti-government Boogaloo Bois on suspicion of shooting into a Minneapolis police precinct during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, according Justice Department officials.

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Authorities in San Antonio on Wednesday arrested Ivan Harrison Hunter, 26, to face a charge of participating in a riot. Video footage recorded on May 28 showed Hunter firing 13 rounds from an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle into the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct, according to prosecutors. Officials said the shooting happened as other people, believed to be looters, were inside the building.

Investigators suspect Hunter traveled from Texas to Minneapolis in May “with the intent to participate in a riot.” In a criminal complaint made public Friday, FBI Agent Jason Bujold detailed messages sent between Hunter and other members of the Boogaloo Bois in which they organized plans to leave their respective home states for Minneapolis.

After Hunter returned to Texas, Justice Department officials said he made statements on social media “describing the violence in which he engaged in Minneapolis.”

“I set fire to that precinct with the black community,” Hunter wrote in a May 30 post, according to Bujold. In a subsequent post he added, “Minneapolis third precinct.”

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During a protest in June sparked by Floyd’s death, Austin, Texas, police stopped a pickup truck that Hunter was riding in for several traffic violations, according to authorities. Hunter, who was in the front passenger seat, had six loaded magazines for an AK-47-style rifle on a tactical vest he was wearing. Inside the truck, officers also found three semiautomatic rifles and two loaded pistols, authorities said.

Officials said Hunter denied that he owned any of the weapons found in the vehicle, though officials said an AK-47-style rifle found in the truck bore a resemblance to one that Hunter had photographed. Photos of the gun were shared by the 26-year-old in social media messages sent on May 31, according to investigators.

Bujold said Hunter told police “that he was the leader of the Boogaloo Bois in South Texas and that he was present in Minneapolis when the Third Precinct was set on fire.”

Days after the stop, federal investigators learned that Hunter was affiliated online with Boogaloo Bois member Steven Carrillo, the man suspected of killing a federal protective service officer in May during drive-by shooting in Oakland, California. Carrillo has also been charged with the June 6 killing of a sheriff’s deputy in Santa Cruz County, California.

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Authorities launched an investigation into members of the Boogaloo Bois in late May. Investigators said members of the loosely connected, far-right group were talking about committing violent acts and had been seen armed on the streets of Minneapolis amid civil unrest following Floyd’s death.

Protesters gathered for demonstrations nationwide after video posted online showed Floyd, 46, being pinned under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer for more than nine minutes before his death on May 25. The death prompted global outrage and sparked a national reckoning with racism and police brutality.

Cox Media Group