by: Oren Segal
July 19, 2016
Since January 2009, ADL has tracked 70 incidents in which shots were fired between police and domestic ideological extremists. Eighty-four percent of those involved were purveyors of extreme right-wing ideologies.
The July 17 attack on Baton Rouge police marks the ninth such incident this year. With nine incidents year-to-date, verses a full-year average of 8.5 for the past seven years (2009-2015), these incidents are occurring at an alarming rate. They are on pace to match the spike of such incidents which occurred in 2013.
This year’s incidents have involved a wide-range of ideological extremists, including anti-government extremists, white supremacists, Islamic extremists and left-wing extremists.
Incident summaries for 2016:
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July: Gavin Eugene Long, who had connections with the “Moorish movement,” an offshoot of the anti-government extremist sovereign citizen movement, was killed by a Baton Rouge SWAT team member after he ambushed officers responding to a call of a suspicious person with an assault rifle. The shootout started when three officers, Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald, and Brad Garafola, confronted Long near a convenience store. Long opened fire on the officers, immediately striking Jackson and Gerald, and shooting Garafola as he tried to assisted the two wounded officers. All three officers died. Long continued to engage responding police in shootouts, wounding three additional officers. The shootout ended when a member of the Baton Rouge SWAT team shot and killed Long from approximately 100 yards away.
Dallas, Texas, July: Micah Xavier Johnson, who expressed interest in and had some ties to militant Black Nationalist groups, was killed by a police during a stand-off after he ambushed a group of police officers during a protest in Dallas, Texas. Wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with three weapons, Johnson killed five officers and injured nine others. Two bystanders were also wounded. During the shootout Johnson moved from location to location, exchanging gunfire with at least 12 different police officers. After an hours-long standoff, in which Johnson reportedly laughed, sang, and said that he wanted to kill white people, especially white police, he was killed by a police deployed bomb-carrying robot.
Orlando, Florida, June: Omar Mateen, who pledged allegiance to ISIS and called the Boston marathon bombers his “homeboys,” opened fire on the patrons of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 and wounding more than 50. After the initial attack, Mateen took hostages, resulting in a three-hour standoff which ended when police entered the building using an armored vehicle and stun grenades. Mateen was killed in the following shootout. One officer was shot in the head and suffered an eye injury.
Dooley County, Georgia, April: White supremacist Joseph J. Harper died after a shootout with law enforcement officers who were at his home with a court order to collect property awarded to Harper's ex-wife. Armed with several weapons, and wearing a gas mask and body armor, Harper allegedly pointed a shotgun at Dooley County deputies who were attempting to retrieve the property. The deputies retreated and called in the Tri-County SRT Team with support from the Georgia State Patrol and Lowndes County SWAT teams, and obtained an arrest warrant for aggravated assault. During the lengthy standoff that followed, Harper moved in and out of the home firing rounds at the deputies and SWAT Team who returned fire at least once. After hearing a shotgun blast inside the home, the SWAT team fired canisters of gas and non-lethal deterrents in to the home. A short time later a SWAT operated robot found Harper dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
Mobile, Alabama, April: Mobile police arrested white supremacist gang member Ryan Burkhardt after he instigated a shootout with police. According to the Mobile police chief, Burkhardt shot at undercover officers who were attempting to arrest him after he allegedly sold them handguns and illegal drugs. Burkhardt allegedly first attempted to flee on his motorcycle, but was forced to run on foot after he crashed his motorcycle. As he ran to a nearby field, he fired multiple shots at pursuing officers striking one in the abdomen and thigh. The officers returned fire striking Burkhardt twice. Burkhardt, a member of the Mississippi Aryan Brotherhood, faces five counts of attempted murder, attempting to elude police, and carry a pistol without a permit.
Crocket, Texas, March: Members of the Crocket police department arrested a man and woman with ties to the Aryan Brotherhood after they shot at police during a car chase. Police encountered Earl Davis Williams and Kayleigh Anne Davis, both of Georgia, after responding to call to a trailer park about a man trying to break into trailers. As officers arrived they saw the vehicle leaving and stopped it. As one officer was speaking with the occupants, another officer called out an alarm that an occupant was armed with a shotgun, and the driver sped away. During the subsequent chase the passenger shot out the back window of their vehicle and shot two Crockett county patrol cars in pursuit. Both Williams and Davis were arrested after they crashed their car and fled on foot. The officers were not injured.
Evans, Colorado, February: Luke Miller, a wanted felon and a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, was killed by police after he shot at a police officer and ignored commands to drop his weapon. Officers with the Evans Police Department first encountered Miller when they approached two suspicious men in a secluded area while responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the area. One of the men, later identified as Miller, fled on foot and later shot at one of the officers during a 90-minute multi-agency search. Eventually cornered by officers, Miller was shot after he again raised his gun at police and yelled, “Shoot me. Kill me.”
Burns, Oregon, January: Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, one of the anti-government extremists involved in the January 2nd armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Oregon, was fatally wounded by Oregon State Police (OSP) troopers during an attempt by the OSP and the FBI to arrest Finicum and a number of key occupiers. Finicum was shot after he fled a traffic stop, exited his vehicle in a snow bank, and reached for a weapon in his pocket.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January: Edward Archer reportedly approached Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett’s patrol car, and using a stolen semi-automatic handgun, fired at least 13 shots directly into the driver-side area of the vehicle. Archer reportedly told police his allegiance was to ISIS and believed that police defend laws contrary to the teachings of the Qu’ran.