MINNEAPOLIS — A Texas man who claims to be a member of the Boogaloo Bois, a far-right anti-government extremist group intent on starting a second civil war, is facing a riot charge, federal prosecutors said Friday, alleging that the man opened fire on Minneapolis’s 3rd Precinct police station in an attempt to stir up civil unrest during the May protests over George Floyd’s death.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed Monday but made public Friday, Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old from Bourne, Texas, traveled to Minneapolis after Floyd’s death and was captured on surveillance video May 28 firing 13 rounds from an AK-47 into the precinct building as it was overtaken by protesters. According to the complaint, Hunter fired his gun and allegedly shouted, “Justice for Floyd!”
Hunter was charged with traveling across state lines to participate in a riot and made his first court appearance Thursday in San Antonio, where he was arrested on Wednesday, according to Erica MacDonald, the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, whose office is handling the case.
The Boogaloo Bois have been spotted at right-wing and left-wing protests, often heavily armed and wearing Hawaiian shirts. Members of the loosely organized group have espoused a range of ideologies, including pro-gun, anti-government and white supremacist views. In some cases, they have been found to purposefully sow confusion by impersonating left-wing activists in an effort to fuel movement toward civil war.
The South Minneapolis police station was the center of days of protests in the aftermath of Floyd’s May 25 death in police custody. The four former Minneapolis police officers charged with his death were based out of the precinct before they were fired. The police station was ultimately looted and burned along with several buildings surrounding it.
The complaint says Hunter bragged on social media that he had “set fire” to the police station and was identified in social media videos and other witnesses who placed him at the scene. “My mom would call the FBI if she knew what I do,” he allegedly wrote.
Law enforcement officials say Hunter traveled to Minneapolis on May 27 and was in contact with other members of the Boogaloo Bois, including Steven Carrillo, an Air Force sergeant from California who was later charged with fatally shooting a federal protective service officer in Oakland on May 29 and a Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputy on June 6.
According to charging documents, FBI officials uncovered text messages between Hunter and Carrillo sent hours after the Minneapolis precinct was set aflame.
“Go for police buildings,” Hunter wrote, according to the complaint.
“I did better lol,” Carrillo replied, a message federal officials said was sent after he allegedly shot the federal officer in Oakland.
On June 3, during protests in Austin, Texas, police pulled over a truck in which Hunter was a passenger for “numerous traffic violations.” Officers found multiple firearms in the car, including two AK-47 assault rifles. Hunter had six loaded gun magazines in the tactical vest he was wearing but told officers he didn’t own the weapons.
The complaint says Hunter “volunteered” to police officers that he was “leader of the Boogaloo Bois in South Texas and that he was present in Minneapolis when the 3rd Precinct was set on fire.”
Police seized the guns, ammunition and a bag of marijuana but allowed Hunter and the two other men in the car to go. The next day, Hunter allegedly wrote on Facebook, “We need to riot,” but the complaint does not say what prompted Hunter’s comment
Hunter is the third alleged member of the Boogaloo Bois charged in Minneapolis in recent weeks and accused of seeking to take advantage of civil unrest in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. In September, Michael Robert Solomon, 30, and Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 26, were indicted on charges they sought to provide material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, to generate funding for the Boogaloo Bois movement.
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