John Minchillo / AP
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. While lawmakers inside voted to affirm President Joe Biden’s win, they marched to the building and broke inside.
Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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In the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the nation saw how quickly and savagely right-wing extremists can turn on law enforcement officers.
But for the staff at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, this was not a new phenomenon. In fact, the center had been watching a growing trend of attacks on police by violent extremists for months before the insurrection.
The center logged 16 shootouts in 2020 between police and individuals suspected of extremist activities, a substantial increase from the average of nine annual attacks in recent years, with all but two of those incidents involving right-wing groups.
As detailed in a report issued in February, the incidents in 2020 included:
• The March 27 shooting of Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Jenkins during a traffic stop in Ely. John Dabritz, a 66-year-old Ely resident, was arrested in the slaying. Prosecutors allege Dabritz shot Jenkins, then stole his uniform and patrol car, to avoid arrest for shooting at tanker trucks, wind turbine machinery and propane tanks in what authorities claim were acts of anti-government terrorism. Dabritz has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
• The Oct. 2 death of Eric Allport, a convicted felon and member of the anti-government Boogaloo movement, during a shootout with FBI agents in suburban Detroit. The incident occurred as agents were attempting to arrest Allport on a federal weapons charge. Allport, who was arrested in 2002 after firing a gun at two police officers in Colorado, had convictions for aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon on his record and was prohibited from legally owning a firearm.
• The fatal June 6 ambush of sheriff’s deputies in Santa Cruz County, Calif. Authorities said the officers were seeking Air Force Sgt. Steven Carrillo in connection with a May 29 drive-by shooting in Oakland that killed a Federal Protective Service security guard. When they arrived at Carrillo’s home, officials said, Carrillo attacked the officers with a firearm and improvised bombs. One Santa Cruz deputy, Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, died and another was seriously injured.
According to the Center on Extremism, eight of the shooting incidents last year involved anti-government extremists, while six more involved white supremacists. In the other two, Islamic extremists and an antifa member were identified.
But it’s no anomaly that most of the shootings involved extremists from the right. That’s been the case throughout the 12 years that the center has studied such violence.
“These numbers clearly demonstrate that right-wing extremists, specifically white supremacists and anti-government extremists, continue to pose the greatest threat to law enforcement,” the report reads. “These numbers also highlight the critical need for law enforcement and the general public to recognize and understand emerging extremist threats.”
Keep in mind too that the incidents in the report only involve shootings, and not assaults or verbal threats. No doubt, it represents just a portion of the overall attacks on law enforcement by extremists.
For instance, the report doesn’t include incidents like the July 2020 arrests of three local men with reputed ties to the Boogaloo movement who allegedly planned to attack law enforcement authorities at a Black Lives Matter rally to spark widespread violence. According to authorities, those men were arrested with weapons and materials to make Molotov cocktails.
The report also doesn’t take into account terroristic threats like those reportedly made against a Metro Police detective and Clark County prosecutor by Joshua Martinez, an associate of sovereign citizen extremist Ammon Bundy. Martinez, a lead operator of Bundy’s anti-government group People’s Rights, was recently arrested and charged with threatening Metro detective Kenneth Mead, who investigates domestic terrorism, and deputy district attorney Michael Dickerson.
Incidents like these — and obviously the Capitol attack — make it clear that investigations of white domestic terrorists are needed at every level.
To his credit, President Joe Biden has taken a firm step in that direction by identifying domestic terrorism as a top threat to the homeland and initiating an overhaul in the federal government’s response to it. The strategy involves conducting a nationwide threat assessment and improving intelligence sharing among federal investigators and between the feds and local law enforcement.
That effort is long overdue and marks a sea change from former President Donald Trump’s encouragement of violent right-wing organizations.
While privacy concerns and legal protections for citizens create challenges for investigations into domestic terrorism, it’s vital for officials to come up with effective and lawful ways to monitor and intercede in the activities of extremists.
The Capitol insurrection may have been a wake-up call to Americans, but it was actually more like a volcano that had been building for some time. Now, officials must take action to prevent another eruption.
