Protesters take on driver aiming bow and arrow at them in Salt Lake City
An angry driver in downtown Salt Lake City who yelled “All Lives Matter” from his car window whipped out a bow and arrow and aimed at protesters in the streets — who tackled him to the ground and pummeled him.
“He got out of his car, yelled ‘that’s it’, and shot into the crowd before being tackled,” Twitter user @Gingersonfire wrote, posting a video of the incident.
“He was yelling and me, and then aimed his bow at a black man standing behind me. The black man saw it coming, charged, and tackled him.”
It’s unclear if the driver, who later identified himself on a local television news interview as Brandon McCormick, actually fired off an arrow.
A second video from a different angle shows protesters crouching behind cars near McCormick as he swings the weapon around, before a group of people tackled him. The crowd then flipped the driver’s car, claimed people on social media, where McCormick was dubbed “Hawkeye” after the Marvel character who uses a bow and arrow.
Police took McCormick, who also had a large knife, into custody, KSL.com reported.
A bloodied McCormick, with a cut above his eye, later told a reporter what happened, claiming protesters set upon him after he shouted from inside his car.
“First I got beat up when I yelled, ‘All Lives Matter,’ then I pulled out weapons, then I got beat up some more, then cops grabbed me and my car got totaled,” he said.
McCormick claimed two black men “beat me through my open window” before he got out with the weapon.
“I’m a changed civilian, I’ve changed my life, I back up the law enforcement,” he said, adding, “I know some cops are bad.”
The increasingly violent demonstrations in the city, in which two cars were set on fire, prompted Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to call in the National Guard and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall to establish and 8 p.m. curfew.
When the reporter urged him to see a doctor for his cut, McCormick said, “I can’t afford to, I’m on unemployment.”
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