Two Missouri men were arrested for firearms after an informant alerted authorities that the two men were heading to Kenosha, Wisconsin, with assault weapons, according to court documents.
Michael M. Karmo, 40, and Cody E. Smith, 33, were arrested Tuesday at a hotel near Kenosha and charged with illegal possession of firearms, the Justice Department announced Thursday. with a giant stash of firearms and pistols in his vehicle and hotel room, adding an AR-15, shotgun, pistols, a dagger, saw and magazines.
Civil unrest, violence and looting broke out in Kenosha after Jacob Blake, who is black, was shot seven in the back by a Kenosha police officer on 23 August. A one-year-old gunman protests in the days after the Blake shooting.
According to the complaint, the Kenosha Police Department informed the FBI Tuesday that an Iowa law enforcement firm had obtained a lead that Karmo and an unidentified guy were traveling with weapons from Missouri to Kenosha. Karmo reportedly told the forecaster on August 31 that “he was going to Kenosha with the aim that, in all likelihood, firearms against people,” the complaint states.
Text messages between Karmo and the forecaster allegedly included a photograph of Karmo holding a gun with a drum-style magazine with the message, “This Is a Game Change,” according to the complaint.
After receiving the advice, police looked at a Facebook page with the username “Michael Karmo” and discovered images of who gave the impression of being Karmo posing with firearms, adding attack rifles, according to the complaint. supposedly counts, adding one that appears to be Karmo posing with a gun in front of a Blue Lives Matter flag.
FBI officials discovered Karmo and Smith outdoors in a Toyota Highlander in a hotel parking lot in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, Tuesday night, according to the complaint. Items allegedly recovered from the car and his hotel room included an Armory AR-15 attack rifle, a 12-gauge Mossberg 500 AB shotgun, two pistols, a “home muffler-type device,” a twisted wire survival saw, ammunition, frame armor and a drone, according to the complaint.
Both men had a criminal record prohibiting them from possessing firearms and ammunition, before the Department of Justice.
In interviews with the FBI, Smith reportedly said he and Karmo had traveled to Kenosha to attend a rally for President Donald Trump on Tuesday and “to see the riots,” according to the complaint.
Karmo reportedly told the FBI that the two colleagues and roommates planned to travel to Portland, Oregon, that he had infrequently violent night protests for several months. A user was shot dead in downtown Portland during Saturday’s protests.
“Karmo said he would be willing to “take action” if the police were demobilized,” the alleged said.
Karmo reportedly told the FBI that he and Smith were members of a 417 Second Amendment Militia organization, according to the complaint.
Both men waived their Miranda rights to the complaint.
More than 250 people, most commonly Kenosha outdoors, have been arrested since police shot Blake, according to the Associated Press. On Wednesday, the city ended curfew to a state of emergency that has been in force since August 24.
Amid calm tensions, Trump traveled to Kenosha on Tuesday to examine the pain and thank the police, while former Vice President Joe Biden visited Blake and his family circle on Thursday.
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