Prosecutors on Thursday charged Brandon E. McCormick, who is seen on video driving his car to Saturday’s downtown protest and aiming a bow and arrow at demonstrators, with two felony weapons counts and one count of aggravated assault.
All three counts are Utah’s lowest grade of felony. Each is punishable by up to five years in prison. The 57-year-old McCormick, who has served nearly two decades in California prisons, was also charged with a misdemeanor count of threatening or using a weapon in a fight. That count carries up to a year in jail.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charges, also asked that a warrant be issued for McCormick’s arrest with bail set at $100,000. There was no record of McCormick being booked into the county jail as of 4 p.m.
McCormick created one of the most-talked-about scenes on a day when hundreds of protesters gathered near Salt Lake City Hall and the downtown library to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and against racism and police violence. He parked his car in front of the library — on a corner where many demonstrators had gathered — and exited the vehicle.
In a posted video, McCormick, responded to a stranger who asked him if he calls himself an American with: “Yes, I’m American. All lives matter.”
The charging documents say McCormick brandished a knife at demonstrators. He then went to the back seat of his car, the documents say, retrieved a bow and aimed an arrow at those around him. The knife and archery set appear to be the basis for two of the charges against McCormick, accusing him of being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon.
The crowd responded by attacking McCormick and flipping his car. The vehicle was burned. Police pulled McCormick out of the melee.
Source: Salt Lake City Tribune
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