After nights of disarray across the country, some residents in Philadelphia armed themselves with semi-automatic rifles and baseball bats to keep businesses safe from looting and rioting.
On Tuesday, reports circulated showing clashes between protesters and residents, including one video in which two men armed with AR-15s sat perched above a row of businesses as police and protesters gathered below.
“This is how you take your neighborhood back,” said one of the men. “We are up here with AR-15s. We are protecting our neighborhoods. This is how you do it. So, if you don’t believe in the Second Amendment, now you really should because it’s a real deal.”
here’s video of them pic.twitter.com/jfGNb82Zyj
— Josh Albert (@jpegjoshua) June 2, 2020
A south Philadelphia gun store owner fatally shot an armed looter with his AR-15 in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The Fishtown area of Philadelphia has been the scene of many tense standoffs between protesters and armed people. In footage shared on Tuesday, several white men instructed a group of protesters to leave the neighborhood or suffer physical consequences.
“Anyone that wants to throw shit at a cop or pick on a cop, pick one of us the f— out, and we’ll go around the corner and fight you,” said one man to a group of protesters.
“If they come here with that bullshit….”
The same group in #fishtown having a pep-rally before marching down the street with baseball bats. pic.twitter.com/dsZZURabZE
— D De’nell Gibson (@HHandsomm) June 2, 2020
In another video, an armed group could be seen organizing ahead of what is likely to be another night of unrest.
More than 400 people were arrested in Philadelphia on Monday as protests escalated following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department. His death sparked protests that have led to the destruction of some businesses in major cities.
