Witnesses on the scene in southeast Portland’s Laurelhurst Park on Aug. 8, 2020, initially recognized a Portland-area man named Louis Garrick Fernbaugh as one in all a gaggle of dark-clad males who they stated have been liable for tossing the bombs within the path of protesters. A videographer pursued Fernbaugh to his automobile and was threatened.
Portland Police have insisted all alongside that Fernbaugh is a “individual of curiosity” within the case, however the lack of eyewitnesses prepared to cooperate with police had stymied their makes an attempt to research the matter.
As Suzette Smith at Willamette Week reported, the incident started at about 2:30 AM when authorized observers, reporters, and protesters noticed a flash over a copse of timber at Laurelhurst Park, adopted by a loud increase—louder than the standard one created by fireworks or police flash-bang grenades. The protesters who have been close to the flash investigated and noticed males in darkish clothes within the timber; one in all them appeared to toss one other system that then exploded, once more harmlessly, with nobody close by.
A video shared on Instagram (after which on Twitter) confirmed protesters chasing the dark-clad males out of the park following the blast. One other video, additionally shared on Twitter, confirmed one of many impartial journalists on the park pursuing a type of males, who was carrying what seem like night-vision goggles, apparently to his automobile, the place he behaved threateningly.
The person recording the incident—Portland videographer Scott Keeler, who stated he had noticed the person within the park earlier strolling away from the explosions—was utilizing a flashlight, and first requested the person to cease as Keeler walked as much as him at a automobile the person gave the impression to be utilizing. “Why are you throwing pipe bombs at folks?” Keeler requested.
“Look man, I am not the man you wanna fuck with,” the person responded. Keeler once more queried him concerning the bombs, to which the person replied: “I do not know what you are speaking about. However I am not that man you wanna fuck with. I am fucking telling you.”
The person gave the impression to be reaching behind his again for a weapon, Keeler advised Smith, so Keeler backed off. When he posted the video, the person was promptly recognized as Fernbaugh. A former SEAL and CIA contractor, he had boasted beforehand on social media about “infiltrating Antifa.” He operates a safety firm that sells informational supplies to native police companies.
PPB acknowledged that Fernbaugh was a “individual of curiosity” within the case, however that with out eyewitness testimony that he was among the many folks within the park who have been tossing gadgets, they couldn’t proceed with the investigation.
“His presence on video is leaving the realm roughly one half hour after the explosion,” detective Meredith Hopper advised Every day Kos by way of electronic mail after an inquiry concerning the case. “He’s not noticed on the video of the explosion. If there’s not somebody that may establish him current then there is no such thing as a possible explanation for his arrest.”
“We all know that that’s Garrick Fernbaugh that was within the space,” a PPB official conversant in the investigation advised OPB. “We wouldn’t have any pictures, video, or something of him throwing the explosive system. We can’t transfer ahead till now we have somebody in individual discuss to us, or at the very least establish themselves positively, give us a witness account of this.”
Fernbaugh advised the navy information outlet Job & Function that he had not been the one who threw the gadgets. However he acknowledged that he was current on the park that night time.
Fernbaugh claimed to be conducting reconnaissance on “antifa,” which was why he was carrying a tactical helmet with night time imaginative and prescient goggles. He stated it was a part of his effort to develop “a service for legislation enforcement.”
“Along with President Trump declaring by government order that ANTIFA is a home terrorist group, I additionally described that Unconventional Warfare (UW) consultants that I’ve spoken to agree that ANTIFA meets the standards of a home terrorist group and is conducting an riot,” Fernbaugh stated. “My schooling and expertise uniquely qualifies me to develop methods to counter this menace.”
[In reality, Trump’s declaration regarding antifa was meaningless since the president lacks the power to make a designation that does not exist. And if it did, it would unquestionably meet significant First Amendment challenges.]
Fernbaugh additionally contacted OPB to complain about its reporting, writing by way of Twitter message: “No matter it was that exploded, was clearly not a pipe bomb, that a lot is evident. No accidents and so forth … Report the inconsistencies within the timeline and the truth that ANTIFA has been violently attacking the police with fireworks so highly effective, they’ll’t be distinguished between the Flash-bangs the police are throwing and the fireworks ANTIFA is throwing again!”
Nonetheless, after languishing for over a 12 months, the investigation moved into the next gear not too long ago when PPB requested FBI participation and the company agreed to take action.
“I can affirm the reporting from the Portland Police Bureau that we’ve been requested to help on this case and we’re offering what help we will applicable with federal statutes and authorized tips,” FBI Portland Particular Agent in Cost Renn Cannon advised OPB.
Consequently, eyewitness Shauna Snider handed over one of many unexploded gadgets thrown close to her and others at Laurelhurst Park to the FBI. Snider advised OPB that FBI brokers queried her about her failure to contact Portland police instantly.
“It will be fairly absurd to ask 30 individuals who have simply been crushed and rushed out by cops to name cops for assist,” Snider stated. “Additionally, the cops did present up. They got here onto Ankeny [Street] and waited on prime of the hill with their headlights off, and all of us have been actually sketched out.”
Snider advised OPB she believed police have been within the space, “conscious of the bombs, and didn’t come out.”
The nameless PPB official advised OPB that also they are pursuing forensic results in attempt to clear up the case.
“There’s a two-prong strategy: the forensic strategy and direct witness data. Ideally, we’d have each, that’s the proper case,” the PPB official stated. “Realistically, it’s exhausting to get each so we hope for one or the opposite. The whole lot goes to be carried out forensically to attempt to tie the suspect to the system.”
The unsolved thriller has been a part of the disparate remedy of right-wing extremists who convey violence to Portland avenue protests and the leftist anti-police protesters swept up throughout the 100-plus days town endured unrest, primarily based on residents’ personal grievances in addition to those who had been given nationwide consideration, such because the homicide of George Floyd.