Proud Boys Leader Arrested

On Jan. 4, the leader of the Proud Boys organization, Enrique Tarrio, was arrested on charges of destruction of property for burning a Black Lives Matter flag flying outside of a black church during a protest on Dec. 12. During his arrest, Tarrio was also found in possession of devices that allowed firearms to hold more than the regular amount of ammunition.

On Jan. 5, Enrique Tarrio was released from custody. After his release, Tarrio went to the Washington Post and stated “Let’s make this simple. I did it.” Tarrio admitted to burning the flag and accepted the destruction of property charges, but insisted that he did not know that the Asbury United Methodist Church, the location of the crime, was mainly attended by African American worshippers. On the social media app Parler, Tarrio said that the Proud boys would attend Joe Biden’s election victory certification, saying that his “most notorious group of extraordinary gentlemen” would “turn out in record numbers on Jan 6th.” The National Guard was deployed to assist the local authorities.

The Metropolitan African Methodist Church, another that was vandalized during a Proud Boy’s protest, sued the organization on January 4th, accusing the members of trespassing and destruction of property. In a statement, Kristen Clarke, the head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law, said, “Black churches and other religious institutions have a long and ugly history of being targeted by white supremacists in racist and violent attacks meant to intimidate and create fear. Our lawsuit aims to hold those who engage in such action accountable.” To defend his and his organization’s case, Tarrio said that during their protests, members often had their hats and flags stolen without any charges pressed against them. On Jan. 5, Tarrio was ordered to stay out of Washington by a Judge, and Washington police are still looking into the case and are considering identifying the crimes as hate crimes.