In one hand he held an umbrella, black like his clothing. A man seen breaking windows in a viral video of Minneapolis protests is suspected to be a known member of a white supremacist group, cops have alleged in a search warrant affidavit.The man … In one hand he held an umbrella, black like his clothing. The man was wearing a gas mask. In the other, a hammer. "That's garbage, pulling that s---.""Are you a f---ing cop?" someone can be heard asking the man.The man was seen breaking four windows before a protester, wearing a pink T-shirt, intervened, stepping between the man and the storefront. In one hand he held an umbrella, black like his clothing. ‘Umbrella Man,’ seen on video smashing windows of Minneapolis store at protests, was white supremacist trying to incite rioting, according to police affidavit The man took the hammer to several windows of an AutoZone store in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday, video footage shows. Please retweet and help identify the instigator. In the other, a hammer. Prior to smashing the store’s windows, the man also spray-painted "free shit for everyone zone" on its doors, according to the affidavit.Photos of the suspect bear “a striking resemblance in the eye, nose bridge, and brow area” to the “umbrella man,” Christensen wrote.In an affidavit filed in state court on Monday as part of an application for a search warrant and seen by BuzzFeed News, an arson investigator with the Minneapolis Police Department identified the man as a 32-year-old member of the Hells Angels biker gang who intended to incite violence at the peaceful demonstration.The tipster identified the suspect as a 32-year-old biker and told Christensen that the man intended to “sow discord and racial unrest by breaking out the windows and writing what he did on the double red doors.”Olivia Niland is a news reporter and curation editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.
A poster reading "We Can't Breathe" is pasted to the remains of an AutoZone store that was destroyed during May 27 protests in Minneapolis, June 9.Minneapolis investigators said the man is a member of the Hells Angels biker gang who started violence at what had been a peaceful protest.“Until the actions of the person your affiant has been calling ‘Umbrella man,’ the protests had been relatively peaceful,” Christensen wrote. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to get more of it.The footage went viral, and now the man is the subject of scrutiny on social media. Some people speculate that he was not a protester, but a police officer from neighboring St. Paul.For now, speculation about the man's identity is just that.A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.The man was wearing a gas mask. He broke another window as a second person intervened.But in another video, filmed the same day, the two men appear to be walking and talking together.Like what you see here? Video of the “Umbrella Man” went viral after protesters in Minneapolis confronted and filmed him on May 27 while he was in the act of smashing several windows of an AutoZone store. An Auto Zone store in Minneapolis was among the buildings looted and damaged in the days following George Floyd's death. Your affiant believes that this individual’s sole aim was to incite violence.”Posted on July 28, 2020, at 3:43 p.m. ETChristensen reviewed hours of footage from TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube in an attempt to identify the “umbrella man,” but was unsuccessful, she wrote. A poster reading "We Can't Breathe" is pasted to the remains of an AutoZone store that was destroyed during May 27 protests in Minneapolis, June 9.Minneapolis investigators said the man is a member of the Hells Angels biker gang who started violence at what had been a peaceful protest.“Until the actions of the person your affiant has been calling ‘Umbrella man,’ the protests had been relatively peaceful,” Christensen wrote. "That's garbage, pulling that s---.""Are you a f---ing cop?" someone can be heard asking the man.The man was seen breaking four windows before a protester, wearing a pink T-shirt, intervened, stepping between the man and the storefront. It shows exactly who broke windows at AutoZone. Please retweet and help identify the instigator.