Nazis Charged With Attempted Murder for Allegedly Shooting at Anti-Racists After Richard Spencer Rally

By Rafi Schwartz  |  October 20, 2017 | 5:01pm
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Three white nationalists who traveled to Gainesville, Florida, from Texas to hear hate group leader Richard Spencer have been arrested for attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun at a group of anti-Nazi protesters sitting at a bus stop following the hate rally.

Tyler Tenbrink, 28, William Fears, 30, and Colton Fears, 28, were all arrested on Thursday, the Gainesville Sun reported. The three have been charged with attempted murder, and are currently being held in the Alachua County jail.

A car carrying the trio stopped at an intersection, where they allegedly began giving Nazi salutes and cheering Adolf Hitler to a group sitting at a nearby bus stop bench.

According to the Sun, one of the people at the bus stop stepped forward and hit the car’s rear window with a baton, prompting Tenbrink and the Fears brothers to speed off before screeching to a halt. At that point, Tenbrink is accused of stepping out of the vehicle and firing a pistol at the group as his companions cheered him on. No one was injured in the shooting.

Speaking with the paper, however, Wesley Durrance insisted that his group had been targeted by Tenbrink because they’d been carrying anti-Nazi banners from the days’ earlier protests.

According to the Gainesville Police, at least two of the three men arrested have ties to extremist groups. The department also notes that Tenbrink is a convicted felon, and may face additional firearms-related charges stemming from his earlier convictions.

Earlier that afternoon, Tenbrink had spoken with the Washington Post about why he’d chosen to travel to Florida for the Nazi rally.

“I came here to support Spencer because after Charlottesville, the radical left threatened my family and children because I was seen and photographed in Charlottesville,” Tyler Tenbrink said. “The man’s got the brass to say what nobody else will.”

Both Tenbrink and the elder Fears had reportedly been filmed at Spencer’s Charlottesville, VA, rally. There, anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer was murdered by a white supremacist who drove his car into a crowd of activists.

Tenbrink also gained a small measure of internet infamy during the rally, after he was filmed climbing—and falling—over a small barricade as anti-Nazi protesters cheered.

Tenbrink is currently being held on $3 million bail, while the Fears brothers are being held at $1 million apiece.

 
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