Ga. Confederate flag supporters face terrorism charges
Fifteen individuals associated with a group of Confederate flag supporters in Douglas County, Ga., have been indicted on terrorism charges, it was announced on Monday.
The charges are related to a July 25 incident in which members of a group called Respect the Flag drove a convoy of vehicles displaying Confederate flags through a neighborhood in Douglasville, when they were involved in an altercation with residents outside a home where a children's birthday party was taking place.
According to a July 27 Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, those engaged in the confrontation offered conflicting accounts of what happened.
Residents said the demonstrators entered their neighborhood and started shouting racial slurs.
"One had a gun, saying he was gonna kill the n******," Melissa Alford, who was holding the birthday party, told the paper. "Then one of them said, 'Gimme the gun, I'll shoot them n******."
Levi Bush, one of the drivers, told the paper the convoy had been attacked by residents throwing rocks, and after he got a flat tire the residents swarmed his truck and threatened him.
Video of the altercation, during which police are seen separating the demonstrators from residents, was later posted online:
On Monday the Douglas County District Attorney's Office released a letter stating that following an investigation by local police and the D.A., a grand jury handed down indictments charging individuals from Respect the Flag with violations of the state's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and making terroristic threats.
Two members of the group were also indicted on battery charges in a separate incident that took place that same day.