Raleigh police to investigate group that carried guns downtown
Raleigh’s police chief says the department is considering criminal charges against people who carried weapons through downtown in recent organized events — including a Saturday incident that left a Raleigh family fearful.
State law prohibits possessing a weapon while participating in or watching a protest, but nothing bars people from walking on a city sidewalk displaying firearms, Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said in a statement released by the Police Department on Monday night.
The Police Department contacted a person who described an encounter with a demonstrator on social media, according to the police chief. She did not name the person, who she said did not want to pursue the matter. But video of his encounter captured by multiple media outlets has been reviewed, she said.
“The City of Raleigh Police Department will continue with its investigation, review these matters and any future events, and consult with the District Attorney to determine if criminal charges are applicable,” Deck-Brown said.
Event organized by group called Blue Igloo
In the latest incident, about a dozen people carried weapons and flags in downtown Raleigh Saturday. The gathering was organized and promoted on Facebook by a group called Blue Igloo, a likely nod to the word Boogaloo.
Boogaloo and other variations have become shorthand for a future civil war or violence against the government among some militia groups, white supremacists and fringe online organizations, according to the Anti-Defamation League and Network Contagion Research Institute, which released a report earlier this year about the term.
Saturday’s gathering was an “opportunity for First and Second Amendment supporters to get together, meet people with commonalities and get some exercise while we’re all wasting away at home,” according to Blue Igloo’s Facebook page.
“Do not hint at, gesture or provoke violence unless you are being physically threatened or harmed,” according to the Facebook event. “A threat is defined as specific and eminent (sic) danger to life or limb. We do not want this to be a damn firefight. We are not that bad off yet.”
The News & Observer sent a message to the Blue Igloo’s Facebook page but was told the group doesn’t reveal the names behind the page or its participants.
At least two demonstrators were wearing Hawaiian shirts — another Boogaloo symbol, according to multiple online sites — and one used the name “Duncan Lemp.” Lemp was a 21-year-old right-wing activist who was fatally shot by police in his home in Maryland in March. Anti-lockdown protesters in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Tennessee and others have also given Lemp as their name, according to The Daily Beast.
The N&O photos of the men with guns in downtown Raleigh on Saturday went viral on social media this past weekend. An attorney for the Wake County public defender’s office described his interactions with the group to The N&O and said he felt fearful after encountering the armed men in downtown with his family.
The group also ordered sandwiches at a Subway restaurant. State law also does not prohibit individuals from carrying guns into private businesses. Business owners decide whether or not to allow firearms on their premises.
Some of those same protesters also carried guns outside of Oakwood Cemetery on May 1. And they’ve promised to be back for more rallies. Weekly “Walk The Iron” Facebook event pages are now hosted by a page called The Anarcho Gun Guy.
Steve Wagner, who has attended the armed gatherings, is the organizer of the Re-Open Johnston County group. During a recent Re-Open NC rally he took the microphone and promoted the armed gatherings.
Guns in downtown
Last week Raleigh City Council member Jonathan Melton asked City Attorney Robin Currin to provide a memo explaining the laws surrounding carrying a weapon during a demonstration and what is allowed during the stay-at-home orders.
That memo was sent to the council last Friday.
“While the law is clear that individuals are entitled to openly display and carry firearms, that right is not without limitations,” according to the city attorney’s memo, which mirrored what the police chief said Monday night. “One of those exceptions applies when an individual is actively protesting.”
On Tuesday, Wake County Commissioners Chairman Greg Ford said the men should have been arrested on the spot.
“This is what a domestic terrorist looks like,” he said on Facebook. “Right here in Wake County.”
In 2017, a Durham man was arrested and charged for carrying a semi-automatic rifle to a Ku Klux Klan counterprotest, The Herald-Sun previously reported. A judge eventually dismissed the charge after his attorney argued the law was overly broad and infringed on his First and Second Amendments right to assemble and to bear arms.
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Raleigh police to investigate group that carried guns downtown."
