The church hosted drag display occasions, prosecutors stated.
The Justice Department on Friday introduced the arrest of an Ohio guy who allegedly sought to burn down a neighborhood church making plans to host two drag display occasions this weekend.
Prosecutors have charged 20-year-old Aimenn Penny with one rely of malicious use of explosive fabrics and one rely of possessing a damaging tool.
They allege that on March 25 Penny used Molotov cocktails to assault the Community Church of Chesterland in Chesterland, Ohio, in an effort to burn the church to the bottom.
The Cleveland Field Office of the FBI accumulated information that Penny was once phase of a White Lives Matter staff that espouses racist, pro-Nazi and homophobic perspectives.
A seal studying “Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation” is displayed at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI development in Washington, DC, on August 9, 2022.
Stefani Reynolds/AFP by the use of Getty Images
At a March 11 drag queen tournament in Wadsworth, prosecutors stated, Penny joined individuals of the crowd who confirmed up sporting flags with swastikas and yelling homophobic slurs, prosecutors stated. Penny attended the development dressed in military-style equipment and sporting a firearm.
The affidavit additional main points what it calls Penny’s racist and homophobic actions. Last October, he was once interviewed by way of police after handing out racist flyers and instructed them he believed African Americans have been the “problem” and that there was once a civil struggle coming between races.
Investigators secured a court docket order to seek location knowledge on Penny’s telephone that attached him to the scene of the church and Friday carried out a seek of his place of abode the place he admitted to development the Molotov cocktails and focused on the church with them.
“PENNY stated that he was trying to protect children and stop the drag show event,” the affidavit stated. “PENNY stated that night he became more and more angry after watching internet videos of news feeds and drag shows in France and decided to attack the church. PENNY stated that he would have felt better if the Molotov cocktails were more effective and burned the entire church to the ground.”
A seek of his house printed a handwritten manifesto, a Nazi flag and different memorabilia, the affidavit stated.
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