Federal charges possible for 23 arrested at training center site, FBI says
ATLANTA — Investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged 23 people with domestic terrorism after dozens dressed in all black threw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at officers at the site of a planned training facility, Atlanta police said Monday.
Those suspects could also face federal charges as the investigation continues, the FBI said Monday afternoon.
Only two of those arrested were from Georgia and their ages ranged from 18 to 49, according to the list of names released by police. All were booked into the Dekalb County jail, police said Monday. Others were initially detained before being released, according to authorities.
As city and state leaders and police condemned the violence that broke out Sunday, police prepared for additional protests planned in the coming days.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday said those involved put “destruction and vandalism” over “legitimate protest.”
“As I’ve said before, domestic terrorism will NOT be tolerated in this state,” Kemp said in a statement. “As we continue to respect peaceful protest, we will also continue to ensure safety in our communities. We will not rest until those who use violence and intimidation for an extremist end are brought to full justice.”
Meanwhile, an activist group called “Stop Cop City” said it was officers who raided a nearby music festival, a news release from the group states. A separate group of protesters marched onto the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center site to protest the recent death of an activist who is accused of firing at a state trooper.
Some of the violence at the site, located near Bouldercrest Road and
Key Road in Dekalb, was captured on surveillance cameras and released by Atlanta police.
Several pieces of construction equipment were set on fire, Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference late Sunday. Investigators believe those involved had initially attended the music festival before beginning what was described by police as a “coordinated attack.”
“Actions such as this will not be tolerated,” Schierbaum said. “When you attack law enforcement officers, when you damage equipment, you are breaking the law.”
No officers were injured during the incident, Schierbaum said.
They used nonlethal enforcement methods to help disperse the crowd and detain those involved, he said.
“This was a very violent attack, very violent attack,” Schierbaum said. “This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy and this was about the attempt to destabilize, and we are
Haddressing that quickly.”
On Monday morning, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers was among those who condemned the violence.
Republican state Sen. John Albers of Roswell criticized “heinous actions, these direct attacks on our police and the property that is meant to do the one thing that everybody agrees we need to do: more training for our police, our fire, our EMS and our 911.”
State Sen. Sonya Halpern, an Atlanta Democrat, praised law enforcement agencies for containing the violence.
”The public training facility will be built. I’m 100% for the right to protest, but I am against violent protesting we’ve seen time and time again at this location,” she said, adding: “We do need to hold police accountable, but we also need to make sure we resource and train our public safety officials.”
The latest violence comes just weeks after an incident in downtown Atlanta that left windows smashed and an Atlanta police car torched.
A number of protesters, most from out of state, face charges of domestic terrorism and a litany of other offenses stemming from that incident. Defendants in that case include a “brand ambassador” from Pittsburgh, a biology student (on the dean’s list) from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the son of a millionaire surgeon who grew up in a mansion in Kennebunkport, Maine.