Domestic Terror Group That Wreaked Havoc In Austin Among Top Five Public Safety Threats

AUSTIN, TX — A domestic terror group that wreaked havoc in Austin a few years back is among the domestic terrorist groups continuing to pose a public safety threat despite the current political focus Islamic-rooted foreign threats, according to a police website.

"While much of the attention has been focused on foreign terror organizations like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda (and the lone wolf terror attacks by domestic actors inspired by them), it’s important to remember the threats posed by domestic terror groups that don’t always dominate the headlines," officials wrote on PoliceOne.com, te premier resource for law enforcement online.

PoliceOne.com officials describe their mission as one designed "...to provide officers with information and resources that make them better able to protect their communities and stay safer on the streets."

On Thursday, PoliceOne.com published an article tited "5 domestic terrorism threats you haven't thought of in a while, but are still here." In it, one of the top five threats listed is the Phineas Priesthood — not a group per se, but a name for individuals who commit acts of violence based on ideology detailed in a 1990 book written by white supremacist Richard Kelly Hoskins. Its brand of Christian terrorism lists interracial relationships, homosexuality, and abortion among its targets.

The video below yields a primer of sorts into the loosely organized organization calling itself Phineas Priesthood:

Austin police are painfully aware of the Phineas Priesthood. In 2014, the warped ideology made headlines for a 2014 shooting rampage in downtown Austin during which Larry McQuilliams opened fire on a number of buildings, including the Austin police headquarters and a federal courthouse during the rampage.

By the end of the violent incident, more than 100 rounds were fired an an attempt to burn down Mexican consulate was attempted. Police later found a copy of Hoskins’ book among McQuilliams’ effects gathered inside a rented van.

PoliceOne.com quotes former Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo discussing the Priesthood: "What keeps me up at night is these guys. The lone wolf."

Morris Gulett, the former leader of the Aryan Nations, launched a new extremist group last year that incorporates the Phineas Priesthood emblem, according to PoliceOne.com. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Priesthood as being devoid of leaders, meetings, or a traditional membership process, the website noted. Those wishing to be initiated as a so-called Phineas Priest are ordained by committing a “Phineas action.”

Like many terror threats on the list compiled by PoliceOne.com, the lack of even a semblance of a formal organization makes predicting or thwarting an attack by such groups difficult for lasw enforcement agencies.

"Followers of the Phineas ideology are responsible for a number of violent attacks," the website reads. "Among them was a series of incidents in 1996 carried out by four men, which included the bombings of the Spokane Spokesman-Review and a Planned Parenthood office, as well as multiple bank robberies. The FBI has been investigating the Priesthood for decades."

The other groups the website lists in its Top 5 list of domestic terror threats are:

• Army of God, a Christian extremist organization linked to numerous incidents of anti-abortion violence in the course of several decades. Formed in 1982, the group is responsible for the bombing of abortion clinics, acts of kidnapping, murder and attempted murder. Among its most well-known acts of violence is the 2009 assassination of physician George Tiller, fatally shot while serving as an usher during a church service. Tiller was targeted for performing late-term abortions. Most recently, in 2015, the Army of God made headlines when Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. opened fire in a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, claiming the lives of a police officer and two civilians.
• The Earth Liberation Front is a group defined as “eco-terrorists” by the FBI, according to the website. ELF is a decentralized domestic terror group responsible for a series of attacks that date back to the early 90s, the website details. "The group is driven by a shared ideology of “economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment” and carries out attacks, most commonly in the form of arson and vandalism, in cells or individually," PoliceOne.com reported.
• Sovereign Citizens, a movement whose followers follow their own interpretations of the law, are guided by their belief that the U.S. government operates without legitimacy. Members are responsible for a number of attacks on police, including the death of two officers gunned down at a traffic stop. In 2014, a married couple identifying themselves as part of the movement entered a pizzeria and murdered two cops who were dining there, leaving a note on one of the bodies that read, “This is the start of the revolution," the website reads. A fatal 2016 ambush that left three officers dead in Baton Rouge was perpetrated by a man who declared himself a sovereign citizen, according to the website.
• The Animal Liberation Front is closely tied to ELF, described as a terror group that partakes in crimes, including arson, harassment, and vandalism, in the name of animal rights. Like ELF, the group is decentralized. The U.S. branch of ALF began in the late '70s. While deaths have not been attributed to ALF, its members have committed crimes of increasing severity, PoliceOne.com noted. From 2001-2011, the ALF was second only to the ELF for the most terrorist attacks committed on U.S. soil. Their targets have included food producers, biomedical researchers and law enforcement, according to the FBI. One preferred tactic is the mailing of letter bombs, food scares, and the use of incendiary devices, according to the website. "In one particularly disturbing incident in 2006, a UCLA researcher was targeted in an attempted firebombing, but the device was placed at the wrong home," the website details. "The FBI told reporters at the time of the incident that the crude explosive, which did not go off, had enough power to kill the home’s occupants."

>>> Read the full story at PoliceOne.com

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