Proud Boys leader arrested for burning D.C. church’s Black Lives Matter banner
A BLM banner at a historically Black church was destroyed during a pro-Trump rally last month.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, was arrested on Monday (Jan. 4) for allegedly burning a Washington, D.C. church’s Black Lives Matter banner. Tarrio was charged with destruction of property for the incident, which occurred during a “Stop the Steal” protest last month.
According to CNN, Tarrio was also charged with possession of firearm magazines.
“He was charged with Destruction of Property related to an offense that occurred on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020 in the 900 block of 11th Street, Northwest,” D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Public Information Officer Sean Hickman said in a statement. “At the time of his arrest, he was found to be in possession of two high capacity firearm magazines. He was additionally charged with Possession of High Capacity Feeding Device.”
Tarrio previously took responsibility for the burning of the banner in a social media post. The Proud Boys leader wrote on Parler that “against the wishes of my attorney I am here today to admit that I am the person responsible for the burning of this sign.”
He added in the post, “Come get me if you feel like what I did was wrong. We’ll let the public decide.”
During a “WarBoys” podcast interview, Tarrio also praised himself as “the person that went ahead and put the lighter to it and engulfed it in flames.”
“And I’m damn proud I did,” he added.
As reported by REVOLT, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church recently sued the Proud Boys for destroying the banner.
“Black churches and other religious institutions have a long and ugly history of being targeted by white supremacists in racist and violent attacks meant to intimidate and create fear,” Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said in a statement. “Our lawsuit aims to hold those who engage in such action accountable.”