Three men who are reportedly supporters of white nationalist Richard Spencer were arrested on Thursday in connection to an incident where a shot was fired, deputies said.
William Henry Fears, 30, Colton Gene Fears, 28, and Tyler Tenbrink, 29, each face charges of attempted homicide, the Gainesville Sun reports. Tenbrink faces an additional charge of possession of a weapon, public records show.
Around 5:50 p.m., the men pulled up in a silver Jeep next to a small group of people sitting on a bus bench, according to Alachua County deputies. One of the men yelled Adolf Hitler’s name and began chanting, according to the Sun.
A man then hit the Jeep’s back window with a baton and the car abruptly stopped. Deputies said Tenbrink then stepped out of the vehicle with a gun.
William and Colton Fears then yelled “I’m going to (expletive) kill you,” and Tenbrink fired one shot at the victim, missing him and hitting a building.
The men then fled the scene in the Jeep but were shortly pulled over by deputies.
Fears told the Sun that a man known for driving his car into a crowd of people in the Charlottesville, Virginia, protests “wasn’t unjustified.”
“I don’t want to glorify what he did, but at the same time, I wasn’t surprised it happened. It was eventually going to happen ... They threw the first blow so I’m going to take his side,” Fears said to the Sun.
Tenbrink told the Sun that he traveled to Gainesville from Houston to see Spencer’s speech.
William Fears and Colton Fears remain at the county jail on a $1 million bond, and Tenbrink is held on a $3 million bond, according to jail records.
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