Vegas Cop Killers Awash in White Supremacy, Rightwing Conspiracy

The perpetrators in Las Vegas who shot and killed three people on Sunday—including two police officers gunned down while eating lunch in a pizzeria—were reportedly members of the white supremacy movement who espoused rabid anti-government and racist views.

Local news outlets report that the two shooters, a man and a woman, shot two officers at CiCi's Pizza in a local shopping complex before fleeing to nearby Walmart where they killed a civilian bystander near the store entrance. Later, they took their own lives as police moved in.

As the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports:

One officer was reported dead at the scene, while the other died later in surgery at University Medical Center.

Witnesses told police one of the shooters yelled “This is the start of a revolution” before shooting the officers. [Sheriff Doug Gillespie] later said he could not confirm that.

The shooters then stripped the officers of their weapons and ammunition and badges, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. They then covered the officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words, “Don’t tread on Me.”

The flag is named for Christopher Gadsden a Revolutionary War general who designed it. It has recently come back in vogue as an adopted symbol of the American tea party movement.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, the couple—whose names have not yet been officially released but lived in their area—had a reputation among their neighbors "for spouting racist, anti-government views, bragging about their gun collection and boasting that they’d spent time at Cliven Bundy’s ranch during a recent standoff there between armed militia members and federal government agents."

Brandon Moore, who lived in the apartment complex where the assailants are believed to have lived, told the Sun journalist that the couple "were handing out white-power propaganda and were talking about doing the next Columbine."

The Sun adds:

Sara Andrea, a resident of the complex, said the assailants were known to walk around town dressed as the Batman comic book characters The Joker and Harley Quinn.

"No one associated (with them), but everyone knew these people," she said.

Residents who spoke about the assailants all mentioned the couple's relationship with Bundy.

Oak Tree resident Sue Hale said the two told her they were in Bunkerville during the standoff, which occurred in April after federal authorities began conducting a roundup of Bundy’s cattle. Bundy had defied the government by grazing the cattle on public land without a permit.

"Yap, yap, yap. They were always running their mouths," Hale said.

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