Local men charged in shooting at Fla. rally
Police: Shot fired after speech by white nationalist
Three Houston-area men face charges of attempted homicide in Florida after authorities say one them fired a gun from a car at a group of bystanders following a white supremacist’s speech on the University of Florida campus.
The men — 28-year-old Tyler Tenbrink of Richmond, 30-year-old William Fears of Pasadena, and 28-year-old Colton Fears, also of Pasadena — were arrested after the Thursday incident and were being held Friday in the Alachua County, Fla., jail.
The Gainesville Police Department alleged at least one of the passengers extended his arm in a Nazi salute and others taunted the bystanders at a bus stop, some of whom
held signs protesting the speech by white supremacist Richard Spencer.
Police said at least two of the three Texas men have connections to right-wing extremist groups. Tenbrink has a slew of prior convictions and faces additional charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. William Fears is also a felon but did not have a gun.
An attorney for the three men was not listed on arresting documents, and efforts to reach family members were unsuccessful.
Protest largely peaceful
The shooting came after Spencer, who advocates turning the United States into a Caucasian-only ethnostate, ended a speaking event Thursday afternoon. Protesters drowned out most of his speech by buying up tickets and yelling Florida Gators football chants.
More than 2,500 people who went to protest Spencer’s speech remained largely peaceful, although the atmosphere was tense. At least one man who appeared to be a white supremacist was punched in the face, and two other people were arrested. They are separate from the three Texas men arrested on attempted homicide charges.
Before the shooting, the Gainesville Sun interviewed Tenbrink, who told a reporter he drove from Houston to see Spencer speak.
“This is a mess. I’m disappointed in the course of things,” he said. “It appears that the only answer left is violence, and nobody wants that.”
Police give the following account:
About 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the Fears brothers and Tenbrink drove up to a group of people near a bus stop. At least one extended his arm in a Nazi salute; chants about Hitler were shouted from the car.
Encouraged to shoot
During the exchange, one of the bystanders struck the vehicle with a baton.
The car lurched forward about 10 feet, Tenbrink got out and pulled a handgun.
Witnesses said the Fears brothers encouraged him to shoot at those waiting for a bus.
Tenbrink allegedly fired a single shot at the group, which did not injure anyone and struck a nearby building. Gainesville police say the three then drove away.
One of the victims was able to get a license plate number and reported the shooting to law enforcement.
Before 9 p.m. Thursday, an off-duty Alachua County deputy located the Jeep. Multiple local police units and the Florida Highway Patrol conducted a highrisk felony traffic stop on Interstate 75 near High Springs and Lake Butler, leading to the arrest of the three.
The Fears brothers are being held on a $1 million bond.
Tenbrink was being held on a $3 million bond.
Criminal histories
All three have extensive criminal histories in the Houston area and Texas.
Tenbrink has been convicted of at least two third-degree felonies in Fort Bend County, according to court records — one for assaulting family or household members in November 2011 and another for the same charge in April 2014. He was also convicted of misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury in family violence in February 2009. He has misdemeanor convictions for theft of $500 to $1,500; driving with a suspended license and public intoxication. He was able to use pre-trial diversion to avoid a DUI conviction in 2008 and had an assault case against him dismissed that same year. In Harris County, he was convicted of theft between $50 and $500 in 2010.
Colton Fears has been charged with possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana at least four times between 2007 and 2014, court records show, although Harris County courts dismissed one of those misdemeanors. His Facebook profile shows he was active in Houston’s death metal scene and performed as a singer at least once.
William Fears was convicted of aggravated kidnapping in Smith County in East Texas in 2009, a first-degree felony for which he was sentenced to seven years in jail, according to a register of actions in that case. There is also an inactive case in Harris County against him for assault on a family member or household member from earlier this month.
The Harris County Clerk of Court’s case summary of the incident says a warrant or citation has been issued for Fears’ arrest, and his bond in that case was $888,888 as of Oct. 9.