3 ARRESTED IN SHOOTING AFTER SPENCER SPEECH
Two of the three men have ‘extremist’ ties, police say.
GAINESVILLE — Three Texas men were arrested near Gainesville on Thursday in connection to a shooting incident after white nationalist Richard Spencer’s speech at the University of Florida, deputies said.
William Henry Fears, 30, Colton Gene Fears, 28, and Tyler Tenbrink, 29, each face charges of attempted homicide, according to arrest reports from the Alachua County Sheriff ’s Office. Tenbrink faces an additional charge of possession of a weapon. All are from the suburbs of Houston.
At about 5:50 p.m. Thurs- day, the men pulled up in a silver Jeep next to a group of people sitting on a bus bench at Archer Road and Southwest 34th Street, about a mile from the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, where Spencer had just finished speaking. One of the men yelled, “Heil Hitler!” and began chanting, according to deputies.
An argument ensued, and a man then hit the Jeep’s back window with a baton, the report said. The car abruptly stopped, and Tenbrink then stepped out of the vehicle with a gun.
William and Colton Fears then yelled, “I’m going to (expletive) kill you!” and Tenbrink fired one shot at the victim, missing him and hitting a building directly behind him.
The men then fled the scene in the Jeep, but deputies caught them at about 9 p.m. The victim had provided police with the vehi- cle’s license plate number.
“I was amazed that immediately after being shot at, a victim had the forethought to get the vehicle’s license number,” said Officer Ben Tobias, a Gainesville police spokesman.
All three men were seen at the protests outside the Phillips Center on Thurs- day, saying they were there in support of Spencer.
Gainesville police said Tenbrink is a convicted felon, and two of the three men arrested “have shown connection to extremist groups.”
The men remain at the Alachua County Jail. Bail was set at $3 million for Tenbrink and at $1 million for both William and Colton Fears, according to jail records.