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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 16 January 2021
White Army vet charged in shooting Black girl at Trump rally

By RYAN J. FOLEY concluded. to reduce a $500,000 bond.
Associated Press Fans of the president, who Danielle Gross, the teen
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A were gathering to support driver’s mother, said her
white military veteran shot his attempts to subvert the daughter was so trauma-
and wounded a 15-year- November election, initially tized by the shooting that
old girl when he fired his “were having fun” taunting injured her cousin that she
gun into a car carrying four the girls, Brekke said. didn’t leave the house for
Black teenagers during a Brekke, a retired airport se- a week afterward. She said
tense confrontation at a curity worker, said he asked the girls made an ill-ad-
rally in support of President whether they were on wel- vised decision to confront
Donald Trump near the fare and unemployed. He rallygoers and that the situ-
Iowa Capitol last month. said they called him a white ation escalated quickly.
Michael McKinney, 25, is supremacist and threat- “They were saying some
charged with attempted ened him and his wife. racist slurs and the girls ar-
murder in the Dec. 6 shoot- McKinney’s attorney, Kent gued with them and it went
ing in Des Moines. McK- Army veteran Michael McKinney, is shown in a Dec. 6, 2020 Balducci, said the Jan. from there,” Gross said,
inney, who was heavily booking photo released by the Polk County Jail in Des Moines, 6 mob attack at the U.S. adding that she hasn’t
armed and wearing body Iowa. Capitol that included many heard from the police since
armor, told police he fired Associated Press ex-military members won’t the day of the shooting
the shot in self-defense. A The teen driver’s mother from his waistband and fir- help his client’s case, be- and that she fears for her
resident of tiny St. Charles, said the girls argued with ing into the car from 15 feet cause the public will draw family’s safety.
Iowa, McKinney has posted Trump supporters about (4.5 meters) away, accord- comparisons. Authorities declined com-
on Facebook in support of politics and were subject- ing to court documents. But he argued that the ment on whether the shoot-
the far-right Proud Boys and ed to racial slurs. Rallygo- The bullet hit the leg of a “political factors are ex- ing might have been moti-
against Black Lives Matter. ers blamed the teens for girl who had been arguing traneous” and that McK- vated by race. Polk County
In a news release detail- starting the confrontation, with members of the crowd inney’s actions should be Attorney John Sarcone
ing McKinney’s arrest, the saying they were harass- through the vehicle’s sun- viewed as self-defense. The noted that the attempted
state police described an ing and threatening the roof. The car sped off to teenage driver may have murder charge against
afternoon shooting at a crowd. take her to a hospital. been using the vehicle as a McKinney carries far more
parking lot and didn’t men- The girls’ car ended up sur- The 73-year-old owner of weapon instead of merely prison time than a state
tion the Trump car rally or rounded by Trump support- the pickup, Bob Brekke Jr., trying to flee the angry hate crime charge, with a
the race of those involved. ers who were yelling and told AP he was glad that crowd, he said. maximum of five years.
A city police spokesman honking horns before the McKinney shot into the car Trump supporters have After the shooting, McK-
said initial reports indicated driver went in reverse and and scared the girls away, blasted authorities for inney apparently tried to
the shooting was traffic- struck a pickup. It’s unclear saying he worried that they charging McKinney, argu- cover his tracks, putting
related. Division of Criminal whether the collision was might be armed. ing that his shot protected the spent shell casing in
Investigation spokesman accidental. McKinney told “I felt relieved,” said Brekke, rallygoers. They include an the trunk of his car and not
Mitch Mortvedt said the police he fired at that point whose truck was scratched Iowa Department of Pub- initially coming forward as
agency released the im- to protect himself. in the collision. lic Safety employee who the shooter, court records
mediate facts and circum- An investigator says in court Brekke said the girls had organized the event and show.
stances as required. documents that McKin- been yelling anti-Trump has fundraised for McKin- After others identified him,
But a review by The As- ney does not appear to epithets at him and oth- ney’s defense. McKinney, he admitted his role and
sociated Press shows the be among those rallygo- ers as the rally progressed who left the Iowa National surrendered his pistol. Po-
shooting was sparked by ers who exchanged words through the heavily Dem- Guard in 2017 after a five- lice say he was carrying
a belligerent political clash with the girls before the ocratic city. He said their year military career, faces two loaded magazines in
between a large group of shooting. Bystander video vehicle drove wildly, veer- 25 years in prison if con- his pants and had another
white Trump supporters and obtained by police shows ing in and out of the cara- victed. McKinney remains firearm in his vehicle, which
four unarmed Black girls all McKinney approaching the van, and followed it to the jailed after a judge last was outfitted with Trump
aged 16 and under. vehicle, pulling a handgun parking lot where the route month rejected his request decals.q

Creighton dorm evacuated after student tries to make ricin

ated a Creighton University day, when police were 260 students would occupy
dormitory after a student contacted, Omaha Police Davis Square, officials said,
at the Nebraska school Officer Joseph Nickerson but the coronavirus pan-
told emergency room staff said. demic has closed in-person
that she had tried to make The woman told emergen- classes at the university,
the poison ricin in her dorm cy room staff that the ricin- leading to fewer students
room in an attempt to harm making materials were still living in dorms.
herself. in her dorm room, so staff- Ricin is a poison found
Officials also temporarily ers contacted police and naturally in castor beans.
shut down the Creighton fire departments, Nickerson When extracted and puri-
University Medical Cen- said. fied, it can be used as a le-
ter emergency room on About 50 Creighton stu- thal poison.
the university’s campus in dents were evacuated A few milligrams is enough
Omaha as a precaution, from Davis Square apart- to kill an adult if it’s eaten,
the Omaha World-Herald ments and moved to other injected or inhaled. There is
An Omaha police officer stands inside of the Davis Square reported. campus housing. no antidote for ricin poison-
Apartments at Creighton University on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. The scramble to head off Nickerson said a hazardous ing, according to the Cen-
Associated Press any possible ricin exposure materials crew cleaned the ters for Disease Control and
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Po- lice and firefighters evacu- began around 9 p.m. Thurs- building. Normally, about Prevention.q