MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The video above first aired in January 2021.
A Texas man and avowed member of the anti-government group the Boogaloo Bois, pleaded guilty to a federal riot charge Thursday in connection to the civil unrest that took place in Minneapolis in the days following the murder of George Floyd.
Twenty-seven-year-old Ivan Hunter told authorities he traveled from San Antonio, Texas to Minneapolis in May of 2020, intending to participate in a riot.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota, Hunter was shown on video on the night of May 28, 2020 shooting off 13 rounds from an AK-47-style, semi-automatic rifle into the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct station. Officials say at the time of the shooting, other individuals believed to be looters were still inside the building. Bullet casings were later recovered at the scene by law enforcement.
Court documents say after Hunter returned to Texas, he took to social media to describe the events he took part in during his time in Minneapolis.
Less than a week later, on June 3, Austin, Texas police initiated a traffic stop for a pick-up truck that exhibited numerous traffic violations. Officers found Hunter, a passenger in the front seat of the vehicle, wearing a tactical vest with six loaded magazines for an assault rifle. A further search found three semi-automatic rifles and two loaded pistols also in the vehicle.
Following the traffic stop, authorities became aware of Hunter's affiliation with the Boogaloo Bois — a far-right, extremist, anti-government group that believes a second civil war in the United States is imminent.
Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died May 25 after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.
Chauvin was found guilty of Floyd's murder earlier this year and is currently being held in Minnesota's only maximum security prison, Oak Park Heights. He has recently filed an appeal to overturn his conviction.