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发帖数: 6601 | 1 By Daniel Wallis
FERGUSON Mo. (Reuters) - Two men suspected of buying explosives they planned
to detonate during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, once a grand jury
decides the Michael Brown case, were arrested on Friday and charged with
federal firearms offenses, a law enforcement official told Reuters.
Word of the arrests, reported by a number of media outlets Friday, came
ahead of the grand jury's widely anticipated decision on whether the white
police officer who fatally shot Brown, an unarmed black teenager, should be
indicted on criminal charges.
The Aug. 9 slaying of 18-year-old Brown under disputed circumstances became
a flashpoint for U.S. racial tensions, triggering weeks of sometimes violent
protests in the St. Louis suburb by demonstrators calling for officer
Darren Wilson's arrest.
He was instead placed on administrative leave, and Ferguson has been bracing
for a new wave of protests, especially if the grand jury chooses not to
indict Wilson. An announcement was believed to be imminent.
Against this backdrop of heightened tensions, according to a law enforcement
source, two men described as reputed members of a militant group called the
New Black Panther Party, were arrested in the St. Louis area in an FBI
sting operation.
As initially reported by CBS News, the men were suspected of acquiring
explosives for pipe bombs that they planned to set off during protests in
Ferguson, according to the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
The official said the two men are the same pair named in a newly unsealed
federal indictment returned on Nov. 19 charging Brandon Orlando Baldwin and
Olajuwon Davis with purchasing two pistols from a firearms dealer under
false pretenses.
Both men were arraigned on Friday in federal court, the law enforcement
source said.
The FBI and other federal agencies were reported to have stepped up their
presence in the St. Louis area in recent days in anticipation of renewed
protests after the grand jury's decision in the Brown case is made known.
An FBI official in St. Louis declined to comment except to say that the two
men named in the indictment had been arrested. Officials from the U.S.
Attorney's Office for eastern Missouri were not immediately available for
comment.
(Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Writing and additional reporting by Steve
Gorman) |
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