ANALYSIS:
The agitators who invaded a church service on Jan. 18 in St. Paul, Minnesota, verbally terrorized children and sent parishioners running for their lives, an unsealed court affidavit says.
The disruption was legitimized by state Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat who basically said, “Stuff happens.”
But political conservatives, the churchgoers and the Trump Department of Justice took a decidedly un-Ellison view.
The Justice Department filed charges against three gang members and wanted to indict former CNN anchor Don Lemon. He had played the role of protest live-streamer and organizer, but judges would not sign the warrant, though one said there was sufficient evidence.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest of three invaders on civil rights violations.
Days after the Jan. 20 charges, the Justice Department unsealed a 19-page affidavit written by Timothy M. Gerber, special agent for the Department of Homeland Security.
The document bears new information based on interviews that agents, including those of the FBI, conducted with parishioners.
The witnesses describe a scene of scary thugs who corralled them in front pews so they could not leave the main entrance, shouted threats such as the word “shoot” and had no problem making children cry.
The affidavit did not name the churchgoers, referring to each as a “victim.”
“Victim 4 informed agents that members of their parish attempted to retrieve their children from the childcare area located downstairs, but the agitators were blocking the stairs, and the parents were unable to get to their children,” the document reads. “Victim 4 recalled one agitator was threatening, aggressive, and intimidating towards parishioners. Additionally, this agitator was screaming and getting in people’s faces, to include women and young children. This agitator continued to scream in the faces of young children while they were crying.”
Victim 6 attended the service with his wife and children.
“Victim 6 recalls protesters everywhere in the aisles chanting [’Victim 1 out!’],” the affidavit states. “Victim 6 thought to himself that this is what it would feel like to be in a mass shooting. Victim 6 described the events as surreal and could not believe what was happening. Victim 6 recalled people shouting and running, children crying, as well as people singing and praying.”
Victim1 is David Easterwood, a church pastor who also leads the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, according to published reports. The Jan. 18 service was led by head Pastor Jonathan Parnell.
The affidavit points out William Scott Kelly, who goes by the alias “DaWokeFarmer,” as a ring leader in harassing ICE officers trying to arrest illegal immigrants and says he called people Nazis. He is one of the three agitators indicted by the Justice Department.
“Victim 6 recalled Kelly screaming ’Nazi’ in people’s faces, in addition to confronting children saying, ’do you know your parents are Nazis, they’re going to burn in hell,’” the affidavit says.
“Victim 6 was scared the agitators were not going to let people leave and that they were going to harm victim l’s family for harboring victim 1. Victim 6 later stated protesters followed and surrounded them in their car and would not let them leave,” the affidavit reads. “Victim 6 informed agents that their face is on the Cities Church website, and they are afraid people will try and come to their house at night. Victim 6 recalled his child stating to him ’Daddy, I thought you were going to die.’ Victim 6 ended the interview and acknowledged that his children are traumatized.”
The witness identified as Victim 5 joined Victim 4 in describing the scene.
“Victim 5 noticed Cities Church was unusually full and noticed a group of unfamiliar individuals seated together towards the rear of the church,” an ICE agent named Berger wrote. “Victim 4 noted after the protest began, approximately fifty members of the congregation were stuck towards the front of the church. Victim 4 informed agents the aisles are already narrow to begin with, and the agitators who occupied the center of the sanctuary made it nearly impossible for parishioners to get out and leave. Victim 5 later expressed fear that the agitators may have guns underneath their jackets. Additionally, when the agitators began shouting, all the parishioner could hear was ’shoot.’”
Besides Mr. Kelly, the Justice Department announced charges against Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen. The affidavit served as sufficient evidence to show a judge “probable cause” that they had committed offenses.
The criminal complaint signed by Agent Berger said the three agitators violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate the rights of other persons … the free exercise of religion at a place of religious worship.” The warrant was signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko.
Victim 2 said she was in the church office and ran away from danger, only to fall and break her arm, according to the affidavit.
“Victim 2 broke her arm exiting through the Cities Church office door when proceeding towards Saratoga Street,” reads the affidavit, based on a police report. “When Victim 2 came out the door and was running, she slipped and broke her arm … Per the report, Victim 2 advised the [police] that ’they were terrorized, our children were weeping, college students and young women were sobbing, it was impactful and it will take time to work through.’”
Agent Berger wrote that the invasion by some 40 agitators “disrupted the religious service and intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short and forced parishioners to flee the church out of a side door, which resulted in one female victim falling and suffering an injury … Some of the protestors also physically obstructed some parishioners as they attempted to leave the church and the adjacent parking areas.”
