A Georgia man was arrested after firing a smoke grenade and pointing a gun at protesters last weekend.
CNN reports 34-year-old Frederick James of Decatur, Ga., was arrested Saturday and charged with aggravated assault and reckless conduct. On Saturday, a group of 30-40 protesters were laying in the street in front of City Hall to protest the death of Breonna Taylor. According to the Savannah Police Department, James drove up to the group and fired the smoke grenade.
Video of the incident shows some of the protesters fleeing the scene after the grenade was fired while others began to strike his car. James then exited his vehicle and began to point his gun at the protesters, leading to all of them clearing the area. No one was present when the police eventually arrived at the scene but James was located shortly after.
Parla Parker, spokeswoman for the Chatham County Sheriff’s office, said James is currently being held in the Chatham County Jail where he was initially booked. Records show he made his first court appearance on Monday and didn’t receive bond. The case is being held by the Superior Court.
Since the summer, protests have continuously been held in the name of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the countless other victims of police brutality. Unfortunately these protests have often been met with violent counter-protesters.
In August, a similar incident occurred in Arizona when a white man pulled a gun on a group of Black Lives Matter protesters, and there have been, sadly, countless stories of people driving their cars into crowds of protesters.
Some of these incidents have proven fatal. In July, a man was shot and killed during a Black Lives Matter Protest in Austin, Texas. In August, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse opened fire on a group of protesters, killing two of them.
Luckily, no one was seriously injured during the incident in Georgia.