Florida man killed his neo-Nazi roommates over disrespect to Islam, police say

[ariel]

Devon Arthurs, 18, said he had shared his roommates’ neo-Nazi beliefs until he recently converted to Islam. He is being charged with two counts of first-degree murder.





By Jason Dearen And Michael KunzelmanThe Associated Press

Mon., May 22, 2017







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A man told police he killed his two roommates because they were neo-Nazis who disrespected his recent conversion to Islam, and investigators found bomb-making materials and Nazi propaganda after he led them to the bodies.

Devon Arthurs, 18, told police he had until recently shared his roommates’ neo-Nazi beliefs, but that he converted to Islam, according to court documents and a statement the Tampa Police Department released Monday.

Arthurs is being charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and three counts of armed kidnapping. Court records did not list an attorney for him.

In the apartment with the victims’ bodies on Friday, investigators found Nazi and white supremacist propaganda; a framed picture of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; and explosives and radioactive substances, according to the court documents.

They also found a fourth roommate, Brandon Russell, crying and standing outside the apartment’s front door in his U.S. Army uniform.









“That’s my roommate (Russell). He doesn’t know what’s going on and just found them like you guys did,” Arthurs told the police officers, according to the report.

Federal agents arrested Russell, 21, on Saturday on charges related to the explosives.

The FBI said Russell “admitted to his neo-Nazi beliefs” and said he was a member of a group called Atomwaffen, which is German for “atomic weapon.”



Major Caitlin Brown, spokesperson for the Florida National Guard, confirmed Russell was a current member of the Florida National Guard. But she couldn’t immediately provide any other information.

Arthurs started the chain of events on Friday when he held two customers and an employee hostage at gunpoint at a Tampa smoke shop, police said. He was complaining about the treatment of Muslims.

“He further informed all three victims that he was upset due to America bombing his Muslim countries,” police Detective Kenneth Nightlinger wrote in his report.

Officers talked Arthurs into letting the hostages go and dropping his weapon, and took him into custody.

While in custody, police said Arthurs started talking about killing two people, and then he directed them to a condominium complex where the four roommates shared an apartment.

“I had to do it,” Arthurs told police. “This wouldn’t have had to happen if your country didn’t bomb my country.”

Inside the apartment, the officers found the bodies of 22-year-old Jeremy Himmelman and 18-year-old Andrew Oneschuk. Both had been shot.

Police called in the FBI and a bomb squad, which found enough explosives to constitute a bomb, according to federal agents.

At first, Russell told agents he kept the explosives from his days in an engineering club at the University of South Florida in 2013, and that he used the substances to boost homemade rockets. The agents wrote that the substance found was “too energetic and volatile for these types of uses.”

Russell has been charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device and unlawful storage of explosive material. Court records did not list an attorney for him.

Andrew Auernheimer, a notorious computer hacker and Internet troll, wrote a post about the killings for The Daily Stormer, a leading neo-Nazi website.

Auernheimer, known online as “weev,” said in Sunday’s post that he knew the shooting suspect and both of the shooting victims. He said he banned Arthurs from The Daily Stormer’s Discord server, an online forum, for posting “Muslim terrorist propaganda” earlier this year.

“He came in to convert people to Islam,” Auernheimer said during a telephone interview Monday. “It didn’t work out very well for him.”

Auernheimer described Himmelman and Oneschuk as “friends of friends” and said they belonged to the Atomwaffen group.

“Atomwaffen are a bunch of good dudes. They’ve posted tons of fliers with absolutely killer graphics at tons of universities over the years. They generally have a lot of fun and party,” he wrote.
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2...olice-say.html

[Kamal900]

Both the roommate and the guy are idiots.

[crazyladybutterfly]

what a drama

[Al-Meksiki]

How does one become a muslim neo-nazi? They seem like two things that are antagonistic to each other.

[Dandelion]

How does one become a muslim neo-nazi? They seem like two things that are antagonistic to each other.

There were even nazi muslims during WWII.

Also some modern far right people admire Islam. Never spoken to such people? They're not the mainstream far right of course.
Most commonly they admire Twelver Shi'a Islam and Iran is the nation they admire the most.

They are different from the ones during WWII though, who were mainly Sunni Bosniak SS volunteers.

[Al-Meksiki]

There were even nazi muslims during WWII.

Also some modern far right people admire Islam. Never spoken to such people? They're not the mainstream far right of course.

Well, I know things like Ba'athism and other Arab national socialist movements exist, but they're usually officially secular and don't endorse Islam. I always figured that Islamism was the marriage of Islam and Far-Right Ultraconservitivism.

But Germanic White Nationalist Nazis being muslims seems odd. They mention Andrew Auernheimer being related to them through a mutual group so I'm assuming they're Germanic Nazis, who usually push Christianity and/or Germanic Paganism and admonish all other religions.

I can think of one other individual, though I can't remember his name. He started out as a neo-nazi and then later converted to Islam, though the then condemned racism, but instead pushed for Islamism and Jihadism. Now he's a part of a religion he founded and is a generally peaceful and non-violent guy from what I remember.

[Dandelion]

Well, I know things like Ba'athism and other Arab national socialist movements exist, but they're usually officially secular and don't endorse Islam. I always figured that Islamism was the marriage of Islam and Far-Right Ultraconservitivism.

But Germanic White Nationalist Nazis being muslims seems odd. They mention Andrew Auernheimer being related to them through a mutual group so I'm assuming they're Germanic Nazis, who usually push Christianity and/or Germanic Paganism and admonish all other religions.

I can think of one other individual, though I can't remember his name. He started out as a neo-nazi and then later converted to Islam, though the then condemned racism, but instead pushed for Islamism and Jihadism. Now he's a part of a religion he founded and is a generally peaceful and non-violent guy from what I remember.

Many far right people do have very islamist morality about e.g. the role of women in society. Like how a woman needs to be chaperoned. I also know a half-Turkish, half-Finnish guy on another forum. A self-proclaimed fascist born out of the marriage of a docile submissive Finnish woman and an aggressive Turkish man. Hence he is born in Finland, but has a Turkish name. He claims to be a perennial and fools himself his morality is universal.
But truth to be told, plenty of non-mixed guys like that too.

I don't know why you are in love with Islam yourself though. But I don't see you as a muslim, just as someone calling herself one.

[Pennywise]

Many far right people do have very islamist morality about e.g. the role of women in society. Like how a woman needs to be chaperoned. I also know a half-Turkish, half-Finnish guy on another forum. A self-proclaimed fascist born out of the marriage of a docile submissive Finnish woman and an aggressive Turkish man. Hence he is born in Finland, but has a Turkish name. He claims to be a perennial and fools himself his morality is universal.

I don't know why you are in love with Islam yourself though. But I don't see you as a muslim, just as someone calling herself one.

What an exotic combination. The formula of supremerace. What kind of a "fascist" he is? A Nazi admirer?

[Dandelion]

What an exotic combination. The formula of supremerace. What kind of "fascist" he was? A Nazi admirer?

He's probably circumcised too because his father is Turkish. It's a weird person. ABF is the forum. Once called him out how he's weird.

Poor example. On a Flemish forum. 100% Flemish Belgian dude (Flemish nationalist). Very verbose and admires Julius Evola. He is also in love with Iran and defends Islam often giving the example of their version of (Shi'a) Islam and how he sees how an Islamic Europe wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing like that. It's his favourite country.
Of course, a fascist too. Not a dumbass neither and very courteous in his behaviour, but hoping for that one moment in history when there's a power vacuum for his type of ideology.

[Pennywise]

He's probably circumcised too because his father is Turkish. It's a weird person. ABF is the forum. Once called him out how he's weird.

You have a weird obsession with circumsition, I have to say. He's probably a confused teen.