FBI Raids Fort Lauderdale Home of Right Wing Extremist | News Break
Just as Capitol Police are warning of a possible breach of the Capitol on March 4, 2021, FBI agents raided the Fort Lauderdale home of a right-wing extremist in the early moring hours of Tuesday, March 2, 2021.
The suspects social media accounts show Paul N. Miller is sympathetic to and possibly connected to the right wing or Alt-Right extremist group known as the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys glorify violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) calls the right-wing extremist group an “alt-right fight club.” Federal prosecutors are now saying the Proud Boys planned to originally lay siege to the Capitol on January 6, 2021 from wide array of strategic vantage points.
This arrest of the local Fort Lauderdale man affilated with the Proud Boys was the result of a a joint law enforcement sting operation. The operation involved the Fort Lauderdale Police, the FBI, and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. The joint sting operation featured a massive law enforcement presence witnessed by bystanders near the Fort Lauderdale home in the environs of Southwest 6th Street and 14th Avenue.
FBI officials arrested the 32-year-old suspect Paul N. Miller without incident. Mr. Miller is allegedly a convicted felon in unlawful possession of a firearm. The suspect was arrested for the felonious firearms violation and immediately taken into police custody and led out of his Fort Lauderdale home.
Miller’s neighbors told NBC 6 News they were awakened around 6 a.m. to flash bangs. One of Miller’s neighbors recorded vido footage of the joint sting operation. The neighbor’s took video which shows a man being taken into police custody at the time of the joint law enforcement sting operation. The arrested man appears to be Paul N. Miller of Fort Lauderdale.
The landlord of the home in question said he rented the property to a man from New Jersey. The man moved in on Feb. 1, 2021. Neighbors testified they saw FBI agents removing various guns from the suspect’s house during the joint sting operation. The man’s neighbors provided even more detail about the startling early morning event in their local community. Here’s what they had to say about the suspect next door and the events that transpred just as the sun was rising was rising over Fort Lauderdale.
“We saw him come outside. They took him out of the house and were walking him around and they ended up taking him back and took him away and everyone was all in uniform,” neighbor Chase Robison said. “We started seeing them come outside with boxes. One box definitely looked like either a shotgun on the front or an AK. It is unclear how far away this witness was from the scene but the neighbor appears to have exhibited proficient vision or he zoomed in on what was going on with his cell phone camera.
Mr. Miller’s social media posts suggest he is sympathetic to the Proud Boys. On social media, Miller regularly uses degrading racial slurs and jokes while he is dressed up on camera as comic book characters such as The Joker. Who are the Proud Boys?
The Proud Boys has been described as a hate group by NPR’s The Takeaway and the SPLC. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has described the Proud Boys as “extremist conservative” and “alt-lite.” The ADL and SPLC are leading researchers and investigators of domestic terror hate groups in the United States of America. The “overtly Islamophobic and misogynistic, transphobic and anti-immigration” Proud Boys themselves say they embrace racists, antisemites and bigots. The core tactic of the Proud Boys is the promotion and use of violence. Although the right wing extremist groups appear to be splintering with the recent arrests after the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol, they are still reforming for future operations.
Defendant Paul N. Miller is expected to appear in federal court on Wednesday. Law enforcement officials said more details could be released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Updates to this story will be provided as more infromation surfaces.
Sources:
Extremism, Terrorism & Bigotry | ADL
Far Rights Group Takes Victory Lap. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/far-right-group-takes-victory-lap-social-media-after-violence-n920506.
Hate & Extremism | Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org)
Man With Possible Ties to Proud Boys Arrested After FBI Raids Florida Home — NBC New York
Prosecutors allege Proud Boys plotted to breach Capitol from multiple points (msn.com)
Roots of the Alt-Right in America. https://newsbreakapp.onelink.me/2115408369?pid=mp_562071&msource=mp_562071&docid=0YGM8axI&af_dp=newsbreak%3A%2F%2Fopendoc%3Fdocid%3D0YGM8axI&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsbreak.com%2Faf-landing%3Fdocid%3D0YGM8axI
Originally published at https://www.newsbreak.com.
