COEUR D'ALENE, IDAHO (KMOX) - Two St. Louis area residents are among 31 people charged with conspiring to riot at a Pride Month event in northern Idaho Saturday. Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White says they got a tip from a concerned citizen who saw about 20 men pile into a U-Haul truck at a motel, dressed ready for a riot. "They had masks, and had shields, and looked like a little army." The Chief said during a news conference.
24-year-old Mitchell Frederick Wagner of Florissant is among the 31 taken into custody. He faces charges in St. Louis County stemming from the December spray painting of a Black history mural on the Washington University campus. The logo of a white supremacist group was painted over the images of several famous African-Americans. Purportedly, the logo was of the Patriot Front, a hate group formed after the Charlottesville violence, and also said to be behind Saturday's plan to disrupt a parade and festival in northern Idaho.
Another local suspect is identified as Garret Joseph Garland of Freeburg, Illinois, southeast of St. Louis. In all, the suspects charged with misdemeanor conspiracy to commit riot are from 11 states.
Chief White said of the police intervention, "Preventing a riot by arresting 31 people with a misdemeanor, I would gladly do that any day of the week."
