◆ SpookStack

UNCLASSIFIED/ALAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE (U/FOuO) Suspects' Grievances Very Likely Lead to Violent Targeting of Law Enforcement (U//FOUO) The FBI judges it is very likely BIE perceptions of police brutality against African Americans have become organizing drivers for the BIE movement since 2014, resulting in a spike of BIEs intentionally targeting law enforcement with violence. In all six targeted attacks since 2014, the FBI assesses it is very likely the BIE suspects acted in retaliation for perceived past police brutality incidents. Even though five of these attacks occurred following controversial. police shootings of African Americans by white police officers, BIE targeting of officers was not, in every incident, based on their specific race.. (U) On 7 July 2016, Micah Johnson ambushed and shot 11 law enforcement officers, killing five, in downtown Dallas, Texas, during a First Amendment protected protest, before being ultimately killed by police. The five deceased officers were white. The planned public event was protesting recent officer-involved shootings of African Americans in Louisiana and Minnesota. Based on Johnson's journal writings and statements to police, he appeared to have been influenced by BIE ideology. o (U/FOUO) During the standoff with police, Johnson told police negotiators he was upset about recent police shootings and white people, and expressed a desire to kill white people, especially white officers.' Johnson searched and liked social media pages of BIE and black separatist groups,- and had been ousted from a local BIE group for being too radical, according to an open source news article.3. 4 (U//FOUO) On 23 October 2014, Zale H. Thompson attacked four white New York Police Department (NYPD) officers in Queens with a hatchet. One officer received injuries to the arm and a second officer received an injury to the side of his head. The two remaining NYPD officers at the scene shot and killed Thompson according to open source reporting. o (U/FOuO) According to open source reporting, Thompson was angered after "a recent spate of deaths at the hands of the police."' In his own writings, Thompson the US social, economic, and political systems, which he perceived to be "white dominated." He also described the United States as a "beast" and called for "chopping off' its head, hands, and feet.' NYPD observed tattoos on Thompson's body that indicated he was affiliated with a black separatist extremist group and. pocket litter indicating he may have been associated with another black separatisi group according to law enforcement reporting.* (U JiOuO) Convergence of BIli and Moorish Sovereign Citizen Ideology F'ery Likely Leads to. Fiolence against Law Iinforcement Officers (U//FOUO) The FBI assesses it is very likely a few of the BIEs who have targeted law enforcement since 2014 were influenced by more than one ideological perspective. The FBI judges it is very likely in four of the six BIE attacks against law enforcement since 2014, the perpetrators were motivated by a mix of BIE ideology and Moorish sovereign citizen extremist. UNCLASSIFIED//LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE 4