Arizona man charged in ‘race war’ plot at Atlanta concert

Arizona man Mark Adams Prieto has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his plans for a mass shooting in Atlanta that he hoped would incite a race war.

As WSB-TV reports, Mark Adams Prieto faces federal charges after a months-long FBI investigation revealed he sold guns to individuals in hopes of inciting a race war as the 2024 presidential election approaches. The investigation into Prieto began in October 2023 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation received a tip from a source who said he “expressed a desire to incite a race war ahead of the 2024 US presidential election.”

Over the past three years, the source has spoken with Prieto at several gun shows during which he expressed disturbing sentiments regarding politics, race and religion. His comments to the source reportedly became increasingly “suspicious and alarming,” including at least once where he advocated for “a mass shooting, specifically targeting ‘blacks, Jews or Muslims’.”

Prieto asked the source in 2023 if they were “ready to kill a bunch of people.” According to the affidavit following Prieto’s arrest in May, “Prieto believes that martial law will be implemented shortly after the 2024 elections and that a mass shooting is expected to occur before martial law is implemented. martial law”. Prieto was accused of recruiting people for a mass shooting in Atlanta.

“Prieto disclosed his plans to commit violent crimes against African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia,” the affidavit reads. Prieto was under FBI surveillance from January to March of this year, leading to surveillance of him at a gun show in Prescott, Arizona, where he revealed he was making “off-book” trades for its firearms in order to “avoid possible problems or interactions”. with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

As for why he wanted to target Atlanta, he said it was because it was “such a screwed up state” now. “When I was growing up, it was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why isn’t it now? Because as crime got worse in Los Angeles, St. Louis and all these other towns, all the (expletive) moved out of these (places) and moved to Atlanta,” he said, according to the affidavit. “That’s why it’s not so great anymore. And they’ve been there for a few years, several years.”

He hoped to carry out the proposed attack at a hip-hop concert because, as he said, “there would be a high concentration of African-Americans.”

He told undercover agents and the FBI source that he wanted to leave Confederate flags at the scene of the shooting so that “every white person would be the enemy in the entire country.” He also said his targets were “not people” but rather “monsters.”