A husband and wife who went on a deadly shooting rampage in Las Vegas harbored anti-government beliefs and left a swastika and a “Don’t tread on me” flag on the body of one of the two police officers they killed, authorities said.
The flag, with its roots in the American Revolution, is a symbol for anti-government groups. Police said they believe the swastika was intended to paint police as Nazis, not necessarily as an expression of the Millers’ own white-supremacist views.
Jerad and Amanda Miller had been kicked off a Nevada ranch where anti-government protesters faced down federal agents earlier this year because they were “very radical,” the son of rancher Cliven Bundy said.
Bundy, who rejects the authority of the federal government, got into a high-profile showdown with US officials who say he owes more than US$1 million in fees and penalties for grazing his cattle on government land. Hundreds of supporters, some of them armed, went to the ranch to support Bundy.
Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill on Monday said that the Millers had ideology shared by “militia and white supremacists,” including the belief that law enforcement was the “oppressor.”
Ammon Bundy, one of Cliven Bundy’s sons, said by telephone that the Millers were at his father’s ranch for a few days this spring, before they were asked to leave by militia members for unspecified “conduct” problems.
He called the couple “very radical” and said they “did not align themselves” with the beliefs of other protesters.
On Sunday, the two Las Vegas police officers were having lunch at a pizza buffet in a strip mall when the Millers shot them. The attack at a CiCi’s Pizza killed officers Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31, both of whom were husbands and fathers.
According to McMahill, this is how Sunday’s events unfolded:
The Millers left a neighbor’s apartment where they had been staying at about 4:30am and walked to the strip mall.
The two officers were sitting in a booth at CiCi’s Pizza. Jerad Miller fatally shot Soldo in the back of his head. As his partner tried to react, Miller shot him once in the throat. Amanda Miller then pulled her own gun and both shot Beck several times.
Pulling the mortally wounded officers from the booth, they took their guns and ammunition and put a yellow Gadsden flag featuring the phrase “Don’t tread on me” and a swastika on Beck’s body.
The couple also told restaurant patrons that their act was “the beginning of the revolution,” and fled to a Wal-Mart.
Jerad Miller fired one round there and “told the people to get out and this was a revolution and that the police were on the way.”
In the frenzy, shopper Joseph Wilcox told friends he was going to confront Jerad Miller. Wilcox went from the checkout area and pulled his concealed firearm. However, before he could fire, Amanda Miller shot him.
As police closed in, Amanda Miller shot her husband several times with a handgun, killing him. She then shot herself in the head.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was