LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two supporters of the anti-government, pro-gun “boogaloo” movement were arrested Thursday in Kentucky, federal authorities announced.
John Subleski, 32, incited a riot in downtown Louisville on Jan. 6, shortly after a mob supporting then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, the Justice Department said in a news release.
According to authorities, Subleski said on social media that it was “Time to storm LMPD” and he was among the armed rioters who blocked intersections in Louisville that evening. He later fired at a driver who drove past the group’s barricades, officials said.
Subleski is a member of the militia known as the United Pharaoh’s Guard, a group that identifies as “Boogaloo Bois,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky,
Boogaloo adherents are part of a loose pro-gun extremist movement that observers describe as having no coherent political philosophy. Their nickname is a reference to a slang term for a sequel — in this case, a second U.S. civil war that many followers advocate for.
Subleski is charged with using a facility of interstate commerce to incite a riot and committing an act of violence in furtherance of a riot.
Officials also arrested another alleged member of the United Pharaoh’s Guard, identified as Adam Turner, of Louisville. They said the 35-year-old had been previously arrested for a confrontation he had in December with St. Matthews police officers who halted a protest caravan Turner was participating in.
Following the arrest in St. Matthews for menacing and resisting arrest, Turner wrote posts on Facebook and Twitter in which he threatened police officers, authorities said. That prompted him to be charged with communicating a threat in interstate commerce.
It was not immediately clear whether either man had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
If convicted, they each face up to five years behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and a three-year term of supervised release, according to the Department of Justice.
