Much of the worry stems from the notion that many in well-armed, suburban, and rural neighborhoods won't hesitate to exercise their Second Amendment rights and elevated anxieties could lead to heavy confrontation. "Antifa knows this," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Local and state authorities have to get a grip on this because if it moves to the suburbs, more people will die."
Several analysts pointed to places that have served as something of "testbed" locations – including Madison, Wis., which was ransacked Saturday night, along with quiet pockets of Charleston, S.C. While it remains murky as to who exactly is behind the ongoing turbulence taking place in dozens of cities nationwide, much of the finger-pointing has been directed toward Antifa, a radical left-wing anti-fascist outfit.
But most officials and analysts have surmised that there a number of players and agendas with regards to the rioting, which has overshadowed the peaceful protests calling out racial inequalities and police brutality directed toward African-Americans.
But even before riots exploded across the United States in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, federal and local officials have long been investigating the inner workings and revenue stream of the anarchist, left-wing outfit. And arrests among its highest ranks may be imminent.
Intelligence sources pointed out that indictments have been building for some time, and a close examination of funding revenues remains under the microscope. While Antifa operates as something of a leaderless militant wing, sources closely engaged in the matter said that there are identifiable top brass driving and inciting criminal activity.
An NYPD source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, concurred that fears were escalating in suburban pockets of New York state following a rash of rumors pertaining to looting starting there. "People in other places like Suffolk County are worrying, preparing for the worst," said the source. "There is just a lot of confusion and fear."
Moreover, the group's "electronic communication" shows that they plan where to show up and typically arrive at pre-determined locations on bikes. While Antifa is alleged to be playing a prominent role in the chaos – prompting President Trump to announce plans to label them a terrorist organization – on the other end of the spectrum, right-wing radical groups are also believed to be stoking the fires and capitalizing on the calamity.
Twitter said Tuesday that it had suspended the account of a white supremacist group for spreading discord and disinformation across the social media platform, using the "Antifa_US" umbrella and threatening to go into the "white hoods." Furthermore, law enforcement officials have also stressed that much of criminal activity and stealing is also stemming from opportunistic individuals with no greater intention than to steal and wreak havoc, with no broader ideological leanings.
And amid the turmoil and uncertainty, gun sales are projected to soar nationwide this month as the unrest and looting continue, with store owners from Los Angeles to Virginia all documenting lines around the block on Monday.
Gunmakers American Outdoor Brands and Sturm, Ruger & Co., ammunition maker Vista Outdoor and police body cam and Taser stun gun maker Axon Enterprise were all trading higher as investors priced in the possibility the violence could propel already surging sales. The DOJ declined to comment.
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| Random piles of bricks were strategically placed near planned protest sites. |
As riots continue to wreak havoc on cities across the country, officials have continued to point to "outside influencers," along with anarchists and opportunists, who have hijacked the otherwise peaceful demonstrations against police brutality following the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis last weekend.
According to multiple U.S. intelligence sources, law-enforcement officials in various departments nationwide and analysts monitoring the activity, the playbook in every city is almost the same: the peaceful protests are organized, and a point place is designated for people to gather in the daylight hours.
But, as the night falls and thousands go home, the looting and discord are ignited by a fresh round of people camouflaged with dark clothing and masks, armed with spray paint for graffiti and sometimes homemade weapons, and their nefarious behavior continues well into the early hours.
"The most important thing to realize is the difference between is between the protestors and the rioters. The protestors are mostly peaceful, and the rioters who come next are Antifa going into areas with Black Lives Matter [BLM] signs," said Lorenzo Boyd, an assistant professor for diversity and inclusion and director for the Center for Advanced Policing at the University of New Haven. "It is a mob mentality, really."
Many officials concurred that while they may be a small amount of crossover between the protesters and rioters, it is generally limited. And, while the umbrella of BLM is being used, elements seemingly aligned with Antifa have been commandeering the organization's name. Images and footage online showed the looting and destruction were being committed by a mix of races and ethnicities, but a giant spotlight has been shone on Antifa as agitators.
And, baffling officials: the level of intelligence-sharing and organization involved from what appears to be the Antifa wing. "We had no idea it was this sophisticated," one high-ranking source within the Minneapolis Police Department, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said.
There have been other tactics, as well. "We will get a lot of police calls about the KKK being somewhere, but when we go to the place, no one is there," the source said. "But, even if it amounts to nothing, all those calls have to be documented."
President Trump this week has vowed to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, and Attorney General William Barr has said that "groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate, violent and extremist agenda," and that "the violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly."
Although Antifa is traditionally understood to be a leaderless movement, analysts and law enforcement on both state and federal levels have been working to piece together coordinating figures pulling strings.
"President Trump wants to designate Antifa a terrorist group, but Antifa has no structure or centralized leadership, but that doesn't mean that there aren't leaders now emerging," observed Tony Schiena, the CEO of security firm MOSAIC. "I don't believe it's a coordinated riot but do believe that groups are utilizing it to push their agendas and misguided individuals are buying into it and being opportunistic and looting which basically becomes copY-cat rioting."
In one case, Pittsburgh police on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for a man they believed played a key role in inciting violence in the city on Saturday night. The suspect: 20-year-old Amazon employee Brian Jordan Bartels, who was facing charges of "institutional vandalism, rioting and reckless endangerment of another person."
Bartel allegedly was identified in a video donning all-black and "breaking the windows out of a marked Pittsburgh Police vehicle Uptown, against the wishes of peaceful protesters who tried to stop him," police said.
A list of others arrested in Pittsburgh on Sunday night showed at least two apparently were minors, and the others ranged in age from 19 to 54, but most were in their twenties. Around one-third of those arrested were women.
Meanwhile, in New York, it is believed that the groups have operated using encrypted communications and seek external funding for bail money. One source connected to the NYPD pointed out that political and celebrity vows to bail out those arrested across the country have inflamed the situation and further emboldened the violence.
One known Antifa offshoot in New York, as investigated by Fox News, came together for planning meetings regarding various social causes in early 2019 and was comprised mainly of university students, local writers and artists, some former U.S. military members and minority groups passionate about multiple causes ranging from LGBTQ rights and Palestinian rights to Native American and immigration issues.
Ready-made "Fuck the Police" signs stood at the ready whenever needed, and a few of the most vocal in the group typically advised newcomers on how to deal with such things as tear gas or police pushback.
The effort was led primarily by a university professor and self-proclaimed human rights activist with extensive experience in protest movements. Little vetting was done on those who joined the group, but when it came to discussing anything potentially criminal, all discussion went underground.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has stressed that "there clearly was coordination" among the looting faction and that "they were clearly listening to our radio traffic. The number of U-Haul trucks that magically showed up in front of stores, car caravans that dropped people off and broke windows, and they were hustling the goods out into the backs of the cars," she added. "Absolutely, it was organized – there's no question whatsoever about that."
Furthermore, Richmond, Va., Police Chief Will Smith emphasized during a Sunday morning news conference that "we have people from across the country who have traveled many states to be here" and that they "know that this is an organized effort."
Ian Bradbury, the president of Terra Nova Strategic Management, a Canadian advisory and strategy firm that has enabled the counter-violent-extremism sector to better resolve complex challenges, said that the most observable of those committing violence and riot behavior included local street gangs, local and out-of-state anarchists and Antifa groupings – using black bloc tactics centered on vandalism of public property and rioting – as well as unassociated individuals.
"Some far-right elements have been observed acting as provocateurs, but with only minor observable representation thus far in comparison to other actors. Should the destabilizing conditions continue, these observations may shift as more interests become involved," he asserted.
As for just how "outside" the rioters were, those on the ground contend it's been a mixed bag of locals as well as opportunists from rural areas and neighboring states. Several sources interviewed by Fox News indicated that there was little to prove an overwhelming outside presence, as most arrests in cities seemingly were those living in and around the area.
But in the case of Detroit, as per Mayor Mike Duggan, many have travelled from out-of-state to contribute to the calamity. On Friday, he claimed 65 percent of those arrested were from outside the Detroit area and even well beyond Michigan's borders. That number jumped to 75 percent on Saturday night.
And, as Boyd pointed out, many of those arrested this weekend in Boston stemmed from outside the urban hub and were from New Hampshire, Vermont and rural pockets of Massachusetts. Officials also were rushing to develop a clearer picture of the involvement of foreign actors and cyber instigators in the calamity, both in pushing narratives and as propaganda victories.
The Chinese clearly remain worried that their mishandling of the novel coronavirus outbreak will have severe repercussions from the global community as post-COVID-19 re-opening and realignment of supply chain dependencies plays out." He also highlighted the role cyber has played in adding fuel to the fire.
"Social-media engines have had to contend with a new series of both artificial intelligence and expert-system robotic attacks from abroad in recent times, particularly pushing the Chinese narrative that the U.S. is an incompetent government," he said.
"Born out of worry about the novel coronavirus, the extent to which it has was a contributor to domestic U.S. events remains to be seen. There are other... robotic-narrative campaigns sourced within the U.S. that are equally powerful. This is still an election year, and the presidential election is divisive."
Experts largely have concurred that the extended lockdown to squash the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, created something of a "perfect storm" that thousands of looters have been able to exploit – either driven by pent-up frustration or loss of income.
But, with mass riots and little in the way of "social distancing," some analysts feared the worst was still to come. "The riots have underplayed the COVID-19 threat," Schiena added. "We are potentially facing disastrous consequences with a potential severe spike in cases, forcing an extended lockdown which would damage the U.S. economy even further."
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| Random piles of bricks were strategically placed near planned protest sites. |