Arizona man planned mass shooting targeting African Americans at Atlanta concert to incite race war, feds say

An Arizona man planned a mass shooting targeting African Americans and other minorities at a rap concert in Atlanta in May, aiming to incite a race war as the race approached. presidential election, federal authorities said.

Mark Adams Prieto was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges of trafficking in firearms, transferring a firearm for use in a hate crime and possessing an unregistered firearm. The indictment followed a months-long FBI investigation that ended with his arrest last month, the Justice Department said. An agency spokesperson said Prieto was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for his transport from New Mexico to Arizona. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investigation into Prieto, 58, of Prescott, began in October, after a confidential source reported to FBI Phoenix that an individual, later identified as Prieto, had expressed a desire to incite a race war before the presidential election, the arrest affidavit states. . The source told authorities they spoke to Prieto more than 15 times over three years at various gun shows. The discussions transitioned from small talk to political conversations, the affidavit states. Over the past year, the source told authorities, Prieto began making suspicious and alarming comments, including “advocating a mass shooting,” specifically targeting black people, Jews or Muslims, the report said. affidavit.

The source said that “Prieto believes martial law will be implemented shortly after the 2024 elections and that a mass shooting is expected to occur before” its implementation, and asked the source in late 2023 s They were “ready to kill a group of people.” who indicated to authorities his desire to recruit people to help him carry out an attack, according to the affidavit.

Prieto was a salesman at gun shows in Prescott and traded firearms from his personal collection, using only cash transactions or trade-ins to evade the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives, the affidavit states, adding that this was corroborated by surveillance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. help from source.

The FBI placed Prieto under surveillance from January to March.

On January 21, Prieto told the source and an undercover FBI agent acting as the source’s associate at a gun show in Phoenix that he wanted them to help him carry out a mass shooting targeting African Americans in a location yet to be announced. determined rap concert in Atlanta, the affidavit states.

According to the affidavit, Prieto said, “The reason I say Atlanta. Why, why is Georgia such a shit state now? When I was growing up, it was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why isn’t this the case now? Because as crime got worse in Los Angeles and St. Louis and all these other cities, all the (N-words) left those (places) and moved to Atlanta. That’s why it’s not so great anymore. And they’ve been there for a few years, several years.

He also said he wanted to target a rap concert because there would be a high concentration of African Americans there and that he planned to leave Confederate flags after the shooting to send a message that ” we will fight back now, and all white people will be the enemy in all the country”, and shouting “white people here killing, what are we going to do” and “KKK all the way”, says the affidavit. Prieto said he wanted to show “no mercy, no quarter.”

Prieto also allegedly discussed with the source and the undercover agent the types of weapons he planned to use, suggested they travel to Atlanta before the attack to stockpile weapons in the area, and emphasized that the most important was a high number of deaths.

“He specifically stated that the attack should take place after Super Tuesday so they would know the candidates running for office,” the affidavit states.

About a month later, while under surveillance, Prieto went to a gun show in Phoenix and went to the source’s vendor booth, where he asked the source and undercover agent if they still planned to participate in the attack, the affidavit states. On the second day of that gun show in February, Prieto allegedly sold a firearm to the undercover agent for $2,000.

On March 23, at a gun show in Prescott Valley, Prieto told the undercover agent that he still planned to continue the attack, saying that if they waited until after the election, “they could have everything in place, you can’t even drive, you will be arrested,” the affidavit states. He also said the targeted event would likely be a rap concert at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, scheduled for May 14 and 15, or in June or July, according to the affidavit. Officials have not said which concert, but May dates indicate that Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny was scheduled to perform two nights at that arena. Prieto told the undercover agent he wanted them to wear hoodies, according to the affidavit, because he thought no one would be suspicious of someone wearing a hoodie at a concert of rap. The next day, Prieto allegedly sold the undercover agent an AR-15 rifle for $1,000 and asked him to use it during the attack and to bring as many magazines as he could carry, the affidavit states .

At another April gun show in Prescott Valley, the affidavit says, when the undercover agent asked Prieto if the attack would still happen in May, he responded that he wanted to push it back . Prieto was arrested on a New Mexico highway on May 14. He admitted to knowing the undercover agent and the confidential source and to having discussed with them about carrying out an attack on a public place in Atlanta such as a “rock” concert attended by young people and minorities. . “However, he told officers he did not intend to continue the attack,” the affidavit states. He also allegedly admitted to selling an AR-15 to the undercover agent and telling the agent it would be a good firearm to use in the attack. The affidavit says he also told officers he had five guns in his vehicle and more at his home. Law enforcement then executed a search warrant at his home and recovered additional firearms, including an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, the Justice Department said Tuesday.