Soon after midnight on Tuesday morning, footage captured a violent protestor throwing a makeshift bomb at the federal courthouse in Portland, OR. In an unexpected twist, a Trump-supporting 69-year-old grandmother came forward and identified the suspect—as her own grandson.
Karla Fox identified 18-year-old Gabriel “Rico” Agard-Berryhill as the alleged bomber who attacked the Portland courthouse with an apparent Molotov cocktail.
According to online footage, a slim male wearing a distinctive olive vest with the words “ICONS” was identified throwing an incendiary device over a fence at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. Soon after “Rico” threw the object, a large explosion erupted, with flames engulfing the front entrance. Local police reported that the blast could be “heard and felt more than a block away.”
Karla Fox told The New York Post: “I bought the vest for him after he found one online after getting hit with rubber bullets the night before at the protest.” The grandmother even said she wrote a positive review on the clothing site. “I got this for my grandson who’s a protester downtown, he uses it every night and says it does the job.”
The Post reports that Agard-Berryhill “seemed to confess to misguided involvement in the incident in text messages, although he did not confirm he was the bomber.”
“The device I’ve been accused of allegedly throwing was allegedly given to me by an unknown protestor with full face coverings. I was allegedly told that it was a strobe firework that wouldn’t damage the building or harm anyone around it.”
He added: “Law enforcement has not contacted me for any alleged crime as of right now.”
Karla Fox tweeted a response to an article covering the alleged bomber. “This is my only grandson, I love him to death, and didn’t know he was going to do such a bad thing, I had been posting several things about the Antifa and BLM, he knows I am against those riots bigtime … he chose his poison.”
Portland is arguably the worst-hit by violent protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with thousands taking to the streets every night demanding “police reform” and “social justice.”
President Trump tweeted on Friday, “Homeland Security is not leaving Portland until local police complete cleanup of Anarchists and Agitators!”
Source: Getty Images
Democrat Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says that the “dozens if not hundreds of federal troops” were “sharply escalating the situation.”
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement on Sunday updating the public on the Portland riots.
“After weeks of rioting and nightly attacks on federal officers and property, activity in the vicinity of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse continues in an overall trend of diminishing violence as a result of the increased cooperation between state and federal law enforcement. In stark contrast to the intense weekend violence in Portland over the past two months, protests around federal property remained generally peaceful, with minor incidents of malicious activity and vandalism.”
“Elsewhere in the city, however, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) were forced to declare an unlawful assembly outside of their Southeast Precinct. Following Wednesday’s announcement of a cooperation agreement between DHS and Oregon’s governor, Oregon State Police (OSP) stepped in to assist operations protecting the Hatfield Federal Courthouse,” the statement continued. “Saturday evening marked the third night of federal and state law enforcement cooperation on the ground. While the violence is receding, DHS will remain faithful to its mission to protect federal property and personnel; the Department’s enhanced presence on the ground will remain for the time being until it determines that the courthouse and other federal property are safe.”