A Proud Boys leader will spend the next five months behind bars for burning a Black Lives Matter flag and bringing a gun to D.C. days before the deadly January riots.
On December 12th, Enrique Tarrio and other Proud Boys members stole the flag from the Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Washington D.C. that read #BLACKLIVESMATTER. They set it on fire before Tarrio posted a photo of himself holding a lighter on the Parler app, popular among Proud Boys members. Tarrio later confessed to The Washington Post that he helped burn the flag after a Pro-Trump rally that led to a tense clash.
He was arrested on January 4th when he returned to Washington, D.C. During that capture, authorities located two high-capacity magazines, which are banned under D.C.’s gun laws. He was not present at the January 6th Capitol riot.
Ahead of Tarrio’s sentencing, Rev. Dr. Ianther M. Mills, senior pastor of the Asbury United Methodist Church, penned a letter to the judge. He revealed that the flag burning conjured “visions of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and cross burnings” among his congregation, leaving many of them deeply traumatized.
Last month, Tarrio, who has been a Proud Boys leader since 2018, pleaded guilty to destruction of property and attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device. Judge Harold L. Cushenberry Jr. handed down his sentence on Monday.
Tarrio says he learned from his experience but says that locking him up will not silence him and even called on BLM to recognize the injustices and unfair sentences that the justice system hands down.
“Even the people who disagree with me, like Black Lives Matter, see the injustice in the justice system, and I hope they keep up the fight because I sure as hell will,” the man stated. Tarrio is scheduled to turn himself in on September 6th.
