Police described a married Las Vegas couple who shot dead
two police officers and a bystander before killing themselves
as anti-government extremists " prepared for a lengthy gun
battle ".
"We believe they equated government and law enforcement
with fascism," assistant sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a press
conference on Monday.
Jerad and Amanda Miller, 31 and 22, were identified as
suspects in the Sunday shooting of Las Vegas police officers
Igor Soldo, 32, and Alyn Beck, 42.
A third victim, Joseph Wilcox, was shot dead inside a
Walmart store after confronting the couple.
The officers were shot point-blank while eating lunch at a
CiCi's Pizza restaurant, around 11.30am local time on
Sunday. Saldo was shot in the head, apparently ambushed,
police said. Beck attempted to fire at the suspects, who shot
him multiple times.
In CiCi's, police said, one of the Millers shouted, "This is a
revolution," and left a note referencing the phrase in the
restaurant. The Millers then pulled the officers' bodies onto
the ground, where they draped one of the officers' bodies in
Revolutionary war-era Gadsden flag. The yellow flag with a
coiled snake and the words "Don't tread on me" has been
widely adopted by the Tea Party.
The Millers left a swastika on one officer's body, police said.
Police said after the couple shot the officers, they took Soldo's
and Beck's handguns and ammunition and walked to a
nearby Walmart.
There, Jerad Miller fired a single shot and told everyone to
"get out". Police said Wilcox, armed with a concealed weapon,
approached the pair and was shot dead by Amanda Miller.
As police responded to, the pair exchanged gunfire with
officers and walked to the back of the store to establish a
tactical position. After she was shot, and the pair were
trapped, Amanda Miller apparently fired multiple shots at
her husband as he lay on the floor, then shot herself once in
the head.
Police found "hundreds of rounds of ammunition" in
backpacks carried by the Millers, recovered from the scene at
Walmart.
An investigation into the suspects' background led police to
the small Oak Tree Apartments complex, which was cordoned
off by metro police, Sunday evening. The pair appeared to be
living with a neighbor after unsanitary conditions forced
them out of their own apartment, police said.
The Sun reported the pair bragged to neighbors about their
gun collection and about spending time at the ranch of Cliven
Bundy – a Nevada man who waged an armed standoff with
federal authorities in spring, after land management staff
rounded up his cattle when he failed to pay grazing fees for
more than two decades .
Bundy's son Ammon Bundy told the Associated Press on
Monday that the couple had been kicked off the ranch. He
called the couple "very radical" and said they did not "align
themselves" with the protest's main issues.
"There’s no doubt that the suspects have some apparent
ideology that’s along the lines of militia and white
supremacist," said McMahill.
"They were handing out white-power propaganda and were
talking about doing the next Columbine," neighbour
[Brandon] Moore told the the Las Vegas Sun .
Jerad Miller left behind a trail of social media posts warning
of his apparent plan.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that the Millers
were involved in the Patriot movement. The groups, "engage
in groundless conspiracy theorising," distrust the so-called
"new world order," and hold extreme anti-government views,
according to the SPLC. Many encourage members to prepare
for a coming revolution and government violence.
The Las Vegas area FBI declined to comment, except to say:
"The FBI is working closely with Las Vegas Metropolitan
police department and our law enforcement partners to
determine the facts of this tragic incident. We will not
comment on specifics at this time."
Last week the US attorney general announced the
reconstitution of a domestic terrorism task force made up of
members of the FBI, US Attorney General's office and the
Justice Department. Jerad Miller referenced that
announcement on his Facebook page.
"It's a tragic day. It's a very, very difficult day, but we still
have a community to police, and we still have a community
to protect. We will be out there doing it with our heads held
high but an emptiness in our hearts," Gillespie said on
Sunday.
The Las Vegas police department has doubled the normal
number of officers on the street, from around 150 to between
300 and 350. Following the shootings, police are accepting
donations to a fallen officers fund. A vigil is being held at
6pm local time, near where the shooting occurred.
Officers Beck and Soldo both leave families behind. Beck
leaves behind a wife and six children. He was with the Las
Vegas metro police since August 2001, and was a patrol
officer in the city's northeast area.
Soldo leaves behind a wife and one child. Soldo was also in
the northeast patrol division, and had been a Las Vegas
metro officer since April 2006.
No comments:
Post a Comment