Free Republic

A Florida man was arrested Thursday with a homemade explosive near a rally held by the Oath Keepers, police said Friday. Deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office spotted Garrett Smith, 22, running from the direction of the protest while carrying a backpack around 7:24 p.m. on January 6, the anniversary of the riot at the U.S. Capitol. About 85 members of the Oath Keepers were holding a rally in the parking lot of the Pinellas County Courthouse to support Jeremy Brown, a member of the far-right militaristic movement who was arrested for participating in the riot at the U.S....

A man in black bloc behaving suspiciously near a right-wing rally outside the Pinellas County Courthouse in Florida on Jan. 6 was apprehended by deputies after he tried fleeing on foot. Garrett James Smith, 22, was arrested and found carrying an active pipe bomb, Antifa propaganda and a written document on what to bring for his direct action. He had recently returned from Portland, Ore. "He was running fast, he was running away from something," Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a press conference on Friday. Smith was purportedly targeting dozens of the attendees of a rally protesting the...

Authorities in Florida arrested 22-year-old Garrett Smith Thursday morning after finding him with a homemade explosive device at a rally in support of a suspect in the January 6 Capitol riot, police said. Describing Smith as a "sleeper," Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the incident is particularly worrisome. Detectives said they don't know what Smith intended to do with the explosives. He has no criminal history, there is no intelligence from other agencies and he has no social media... ...He was wearing "all black clothing, a face covering, and carrying a black backpack," according to the sheriff's office... ..Gualtieri...