‘Boogaloo Boy’ held on federal gun charge
Days before a bitterly contested national election that has raised fears of violence, federal agents arrested a member of an anti-government extremist group who was captured on video earlier this year telling protesters here that they could set fire to a police station.
Cameron Emerson Casey Rankin, 21, of San Antonio was charged Wednesday with illegal possession of a gun.
His arrest is one in a series across the country of members of the same group, known as the Boogaloo Boys, or “Bois.”
Rankin was in federal custody Friday after FBI agents searched his apartment and found a loaded semi-automatic rifle.
Rankin is barred from possessing a firearm because he was committed to a mental institution in 2008, when he was 9 years old, a criminal complaint filed in federal court states.
The complaint against Rankin cited the anti-government aims of the Boogaloo Boys, a gun-loving, police-hating extremist group that emerged in the flesh two years ago from anonymous online message boards, animated by a desire to incite a civil war.
A Boerne man who also claims to be a member, Ivan Harrison Hunter, 26, was arrested in San Antonio on Oct. 21 on riot charges. Federal authorities accuse him of firing on a Minneapolis police station during a protest there.
“The term ‘Boogaloo’ is a term used in the ‘accelerationist’ culture to describe the collapse of the
system and impending civil war that will result from the collapse,” the complaint states. “The Boogaloo … is seen as the breaking point where government oppression is finally met with revolutionary violence from armed citizens.”
As people gathered downtown in May to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, Rankin was among a group of white men on East Houston Street clad in Hawaiian shirts and tactical vests and clutching high-powered rifles.
“We’re against the state,” Rankin told protesters. “We don’t like the state. Y’all don’t like the state. … We just don’t want you touching the monuments. If y’all go burn down the police station, we won’t stop you. We won’t stop you burning down the police station.”
The complaint against Rankin cited a video of that exchange captured by local filmmaker Bryan Ramirez, who documented San Antonio’s protests that weekend.
The video was embedded in an online San Antonio Express-News article about the infiltration of peaceful protests by extremists.
“The thing is the Boogaloo Boys really are an umbrella movement which spans ideology,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.
“Some Boogaloo Boys are more left-leaning and want to show support for Black Lives Matter protesters” Levin said. “But the ones that we’re generally seeing in our research are ones who want to foment civil war, and ones who are white supremacists.”
Levin noted a series of arrests of Boogaloo Boys in recent weeks. He said federal agents are especially vigilant for threats of domestic terrorism around “catalytic events,” such as elections.
“What we are concerned about is not just this period traditionally two weeks around elections,” he said. “We now have this 2020 overlay of Boogaloo Boys calling for a civil war. We’re concerned about small cells, informal militia-type activity if President (Donald) Trump loses. A lot of this will depend on what (Trump’s) rhetoric will be” after the election.
The complaint against Rankin cited numerous examples of his online communications.
“I don’t condone firing first either however we’ve already been fired upon,” he wrote, the document states.
The complaint also accused Rankin of wanting to travel to participate in other confrontations from May to June.
In a Facebook audio message June 1, Rankin said: “We’re not just going to protest. We’re going to boog. So if you’re not down for that, I would advice (sic) you not to come. … Honestly, if we take control of the White House … for liberty I think we can get somewhere.”
In August, FBI arents learned Rankin planned to fly from San Antonio to Manchester, N.H., with stops in Charlotte, N.C., and Philadelphia. On Aug. 10, they watched as Rankin walked into San Antonio International Airport in a Hawaiian shirt and a black ball cap with a “Boogaloo” flag on it.
The agents had received information that Rankin had checked a handgun in his luggage. In Manchester, agents met him at the airport and seized the handgun and ammunition.
On Wednesday, agents searched Rankin’s apartment and found a loaded assault rifle, the complaint states.
Rankin was charged with one count of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison.