Hatewatch has identified a ringleader of the Patriot Front group alleged to have destroyed a mural depicting famous Black Americans on a college campus in St. Louis, Missouri last December. Students cleaned some of the vandalism from this image of actor Chadwick Boseman on a mural in St. Louis after it was defaced in December 2021. (Photo by Curran Neenan/Student Life)
Prosecutors in St. Louis announced on March 8 that they charged Mitchell Frederick Wagner, 24, of Florissant, Missouri, with felony first-degree property damage in connection with the destruction of the mural. They said three other individuals were with Wagner the night of the alleged act of vandalism, but have not released their names. Based on our investigation, Hatewatch believes we have identified one of them, and have confirmed the identity of another man previously reported by a Chicago antifascist group. Hatewatch identified Garret J. Garland, 24, of Freeburg, Illinois, as having assisted Wagner in planning and perpetrating the December 2021 vandalism, with the help of private chats leaked by the journalist collective Unicorn Riot. Based on these chats, it appears Garland worked closely with local and national Patriot Front leadership to carry out the property damage. They also indicate that he recruited Wagner and Logan Plank, 18, of Wood River, Illinois, and one still-unidentified individual to participate in the destruction of the mural.
via splcenter: White Nationalists Linked to Accused St. Louis Mural Vandal Identified