A man who allegedly shot at demonstrators protesting the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police was charged Monday with assault with a dangerous weapon and riot.
Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23, of Lakeville, was charged in the Nov. 23 attack that left five protesters injured; they did not have life-threatening wounds. According to a criminal complaint, Scarsella is the one who shot at protesters, who have been camped at a local police precinct since Jamar Clark was fatally shot by police on Nov. 15.
Three other men were also charged Monday: Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21, of Hermantown; Daniel Thomas Macey, 26, of Pine City; and Joseph Martin Backman, 27, of Eagan, all face one count of riot.
Last week, St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan sent an email to the community expressing outrage that one of the four men in police custody following the shootings of the protesters was a recent St. Thomas graduate. Sullivan did not name the man. An Allen L. Scarsella from Lakeville was listed in the university’s on-line spring 2015 graduation list.
Scarsella is being held on $500,000 bail, while the others are being held on $250,000 bail, according to the Hennepin County Jail roster. All will make their first court appearances at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Police have said that Scarsella, Gustavsson and Backman are white, while Macey is Asian. A search warrant says Scarsella called an old high school friend who is a Mankato police officer and confessed to the shootings. The documents say he told the officer he and some friends went to the protest to livestream it. The altercation broke out when protesters tried to escort the men away from the demonstration.
The shooting happened near a police precinct where dozens of protesters have been camped since the Nov. 15 fatal shooting of Jamar Clark.
Police say Clark was fatally shot after struggling with officers. But some people who said they saw the shooting allege the 24-year-old was handcuffed.
On Monday November 23, a group of white supremacists targeted a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest and managed to shoot five of the protesters. Among those white supremacists shooters was a recent University of St. Thomas graduate. The BESA E-Board is deeply saddened by the type of student our university has produced. We fully understand that not all Tommies are like this but, currently he is the representation of the University in the public eye right now.
These events even more confirm that our university still has a lot of work to do regarding race relations and educating our community about racial injustices. It is time for administrators to heal our community and make actions towards creating an environment that promotes the growth and safety of all students. As fellow students, BESA members, and allies we want you to know that we fully support you during these times.We are more powerful in numbers and we challenge you to use your voice, as it has power. Even if you haven’t been affected personally, some of your fellow peers of color have been. We will continue working with students, faculty, staff and administration to implement changes to keep us all safe and to fix the system. We need your help. This is a call to action.