Three out and proud Nazis were arrested in Florida after shooting into a crowd of protestors following Richard Spencer's pathetic White Nationalist speech, where his supporters numbered a few dozen and protestors numbered well over 2,000. Three of these whackjobs from Texas decided they wanted to show the Gainesville community just how tough they were -- by pulling a gun and shooting haphazardly at a crowd.
Thankfully, no one was injured, but police arrested Tyler Tenbrink, 28, and William and Colton Fears, 30 and 28, charging 2 of the 3 with attempted murder. Reuters reports that prior to shooting, the 3 amazing representations of the Aryan race, threatened the protestors, made Nazi salutes and yelled insults.
Too bad they forgot their sunscreen. Maybe we should call them pink supremacists. Pinkies for short?
Anyways, their aim was pretty bad...so the single shot fired hit a nearby building. They fled, police chased. Thank goodness one of the protestors got their license plate.
Police report that two of the men are connected to "extremist groups” and bond was set for the Fears brothers at $1,000,000 each. Tenbrick is being additionally charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, so his bond was tripled. Whoopsie.
An ironic twist -- Reuters spoke with Tenbrink and Colton Fears right before Richard Spencer's speech on Thursday. During this interview, Tenbrink described himself as a "white nationalist" and said his goal was “preserving our heritage and the American way of life.” You know, similar to the 14 words.
Further, William Fears told the Gainesville Sun that he believed that James Fields, the driver who ran his car into the crowd in Charlottesville, killing Heather Heyer, wasn't unjustified.
He went on: “It’s always been socially acceptable to punch a Nazi, to attack people if they have right-wing political leanings. Us coming in and saying we’re taking over your town, we’re starting to push back, we’re starting to want to intimidate back. We want to show our teeth a little bit because, you know, we’re not to be taken lightly. We don’t want violence; we don’t want harm. But at the end of the day, we’re not opposed to defending ourselves.”
Ok, first of all, Nazis literally hate, attack and kill people purely because of their religion, sexual orientation or color of their skin. So yes, punching a Nazi is ok. Second, being right wing is not the same as a Nazi. Well, maybe now it is closer than it was before, but not all right-leaning folks are Nazis. And for a group that doesn't "want violence," I would say shooting or driving into a crowd IS wanting violence and harm. But you know, maybe I am splitting hairs.
Regardless, three fewer Nazis are off the street tonight, which is always good news.
