Silent protests across the country in response to the death of George Floyd—the unarmed citizen who was murdered by Minneapolis police on May 25—have turned into chaos.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, a man drove into Downtown on Sunday and yelled "All Lives Matter" from his open car window.
He proceeded to get out of his vehicle and aimed a bow and arrow at demonstrators and was poised to shoot before being tackled to the ground.
The man later identified himself as Brandon McCormick and said he was there to protect the police.
All Lives Matter Bow and Arrow Man youtu.be
Twitter user @Gingersonfire posted a video of McCormick appearing to take aim at the protesters, and wrote:
"He got out of his car, yelled 'that's it,' and shot into the crowd before being tackled."
They added:
"He was yelling at me, and then aimed his bow at a Black man standing behind me."
"The Black man saw it coming, charged, and tackled him."
After the crowd disarmed McCormick, his vehicle was lit on fire.
Another video showed a different angle of McCormick aiming his weapon into the crowd before being jumped.
McCormick was interviewed later at the scene and described the consequences of threatening a crowd of people.
"First I got beat up when I yelled, 'all lives matter,' then I pulled out weapons and got beat up some more."
"Then cops grabbed me and my car got totaled ... I lost everything trying to come down and protect them with what weapons I had."
When asked how he got the cut on his forehead, he claimed he was "beat up" by two Black men through his vehicle window. But video of him shows no cut on his head before he got out of his vehicle to aim his weapon into the crowd.
He added:
"I'm a changed civilian, I've changed my life, I back up the law enforcement."
"I know some cops are bad."
One Twitter user had this to say after those defending McCormick called his being disarmed an assault.
Here is a photo of his car in the aftermath.
It appeared McCormick had another weapon in his arsenal.
"Another video has surfaced showing Brandon McCormick exiting his vehicle with a machete and walking around with it before his vehicle was targeted by protesters."
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall set a citywide curfew in place on Saturday for 8 p.m. after vandalism and looting.
SLC's curfew expired on Monday at 6 a.m.
McCormick is known to have posted several racist memes on Facebook.
The Salt Lake Tribune also found an old post on McCormick's Facebook page in which he told followers that he wished he could go back in time to "take out" former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when they were "in the crib."
Though it remains unclear whether or not McCormick fired off an arrow, the Mayor said the "All Lives Matter" driver is expected to be charged for his actions on Sunday.
u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit
u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit