- Members of the “boogaloo” movement tried to disguise evidence in a federal investigation, officials said.
- A member of a group in California has been arrested and charged with murdering a federal official.
- Four members of the group removed messages referring to the incidents that led to his arrest.
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Members of the ‘Boogaloo’ extremist movement are charged with conspiracy to destroy evidence related to the investigation into a fatal shooting at a federal officer, authorities said Friday.
Allegedly, four members of the Grizzly Scouts, Northern California, tried to cover up that one of their members had shot the officer dead.
A second officer was also injured during the incident.
According to authorities, Jessie Alexander Rush (29), Robert Jesus Blancas (33), Simon Sage Ybarra (23) and Kenny Matthew Miksch (21) conspired to destroy communications and other records related to the May 29, 2020 incident.
Chat messages, including one that reads: “Dudes i offed a fed,” have been deleted.
The Grizzly Scouts had a description on a Facebook group referring to the “boogaloo movement” and would meet in person from time to time for firearms training and other purposes.
The “boogaloo” movement is not a cohesive group, but rather a series of outspoken extremists and militias who believe in a theoretical second American civil war and insurgency against the federal government.
CNN reported earlier that Steven Carrillo, 32, was arrested last year and charged with murder in connection with a shooting in May 2020, which resulted in the death of David Patrick Underwood, an officer of the Federal Protection Service, in Oakland.
Carillo was also charged and arrested for the murder of deputy ao. Sheriff in Santa Cruz County on June 6th. Damon Gutzwiller, however, denied guilt on charges for both cases, CNN reported.
According to the recent indictment, Carillo sent a WhatsApp message to a group of Grizzly Scouts, allegedly saying he was “preparing to shoot with law enforcement” and asked other members to help him.
Rush then instructed the group to delete messages, and not long after the shooting, Blancas also deleted files stored in a Dropbox account. All four accused also allegedly linked hours after the shooting on another platform and removed WhatsApp group messages, including those that mentioned violence against law enforcement, from their phones.