MilitiaWatch
Greetings, MW reader! Since publication delays last month led to a no-send on last month’s MW Monthly, here’s a compounded bi-monthly update spanning September and October’s recent militia news updates. These include:
Greetings, MilitiaWatch reader! This month, given that it is indeed the final month of 2023, is a special MW Monthly. Specifically, it is not a MW Monthly but a review of the last year of Monthly posts. Below, you’ll find a repeat of the most important stories that crossed multiple months this year and a “most important story of the month” for each month of 2023. All stories will link back to the MW Monthly in context if you want to read more.
This is MW signing off for 2023, see you in 2024 (happy new year, btw).
Seasons greetings, reader of MilitiaWatch! Here’s yet another MW Monthly, this time covering November 2023. Here are some hors d’oeuvres about what is covered here:
The previous MW Monthly (October 2023) can be read here:
Greetings, MilitiaWatch readers! Hopefully, you had a good spooky season! (Many of those covered in this Monthly update did not.) In broad strokes, this monthly covers:
The previous MW Monthly (covering September 2023) can be read here:
Welcome to Fall, MW readers! Here’s a new MilitiaWatch Monthly covering the month of September 2023. No Pumpkin Spice Lattes in this post, but instead a focus on some stories like these:
The previous MW Monthly (covering July and August 2023) can be read here:
On 29 September, Jonathan Schmidt O’Dell and another inmate at the Phelps County Federal Prison escaped. O’Dell evaded arrest for several days before cops recaptured him on 1 October. Jonathan is awaiting trial for a federal indictment related to his alleged plans to murder migrants and Border Patrol staff in Texas alongside his militia. His network was creatively named the “2nd Amendment Militia” and he posted calls to violence and planning materials on his TikTok ahead of his arrest.
Completely unrelated and on a different note, Danelo Cavalcante in Pennsylvania evaded police arrest for nearly two weeks at the start of September. Cavalcante was not a militia figure, but the manhunt for him (and a $20,000 reward for his capture) led to a bizarre-if-not-typical mobilization of armed vigilantes patrolling Chester County searching for him. The cops said these would-be vigilantes were a “hindrance” to their investigations and complained about them getting in the way.
On 27 September, a federal jury convicted Boogaloo adherent Robert Alvin Justus Jr for the murder of Federal Protective Service Officer David Patrick Underwood in California in 2020. Justus was an associate of Steven Carillo, who pleaded guilty last year for his role in the attack. Carillo fired the lethal shots, but Justus drove the van used in the attack.
In Michigan this month, a jury found the final three Michigan Whitmer kidnapping plot defendants not guilty for their alleged role in the planned attack. These men, Eric Molitor and brothers William and Michael Null, were among the 14 total charged as part of the case. Of the others charged, all but two (Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta) either pleaded guilty or were judged guilty in state or federal court. The Null brothers were very public and well-known members of the Michigan Liberty Militia ahead of the plot, speaking on behalf of the group at events and carrying weapons in the name of the militia.
In the second week of September in Cherokee County in North Carolina, Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith and local right-wing grassroots organizations hosted the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) for a day-and-a-half-long ideological training event. Sheriffs attended from across much of the southeast to see speeches by the likes of CSPOA founder Richard Mack and friend-of-the-Null-Brothers Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.
In Vermont this month, a 60-day warrant for Daniel Banyai expired after police failed to execute the warrant. Banyai runs a controversial militia training site known as Slate Ridge and has refused to allow county oversight access to his land to ensure the site is up to compliance. Banyai claimed that he complied with court document requests in July. The government of the town of Pawlet has requested an update to the warrant but state police have expressed an apathetic view on the matter. On Tuesday, October 3, Banyai attended the Pawlet Selectboard to shout at members before they ordered the end of the meeting after he refused to stop shouting at them at the conclusion of his time. Closing his remarks as a constable attempted to move him from the meeting, Banyai strangely accused the board of being “racist”.
In Northern California, a handful of far-right (and militia-linked) activists have been routinely harassing a local progressive activist at his camper van, hurling death threats and even shaking his home. These men include Jesse Lane, Carlos Zapata, and Richard Gallardo, who have all been filmed terrorizing the 56-year-old activist. The progressive activist believes the police gave the right-wingers his address.
In mid-September at the Alamo in San Antonio, armed activists with the This is Texas Freedom Force (TITFF) gathered to ‘Remember the Alamo’, calling for the preservation of the Alamo Cenotaph. At the gathering, TITFF attacked an elderly counter-protester, pushing him to the ground.
The last week has been a big one, to say the least! Here’s a weekly update covering some of the following, in very broad strokes:
You’ve likely already read a lot of this, given how high up in the news it’s been this past week, so this one is going to be mainly for record-keeping.