A lieutenant for the Metropolitan Police has been accused of colluding with Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio before his arrest before the Jan. 6 riots.
According to evidence presented in federal court on Wednesday, Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond allegedly warned Tarrio about the warrant that had been signed for his arrest.
During the sedition trial for the Proud Boys, prosecutors presented text messages between Lt. Lamond and Tarrio that implied Lamond kept Tarrio in the know about police activity surrounding their investigation into the Proud Boys.
According to USA Today, on Dec. 18, 2020, Lamond asked Tarrio if he called in an anonymous tip claiming responsibility for burning a Black Lives Matter Flag taken from a historic Black church.
Tarrio responded that he did “more than that” and had posted it on his social media.
Tarrio then messaged other members of the Proud Boys alerting them that he “got the jump on the narrative” for the BLM flag burning from his “contact at DC Metro,” and how this would make it difficult for police to charge him with a “hate crime.”
A week later, Lamond informed Tarrio that MPD’s criminal investigation department had its sights set on the Proud Boys leader after he was identified in a photo he posted to Parler, which showed Tarrio kneeling next to a Black Lives Matter flag he had just burned.
“They may be submitting an arrest warrant to the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Lamond wrote to Tarrio
A few days later on Dec. 30, the two talked on the phone for 14 minutes. That same day word spread amongst the Proud Boys that Tarrio would soon be arrested.
On Jan. 4, 2021, two days before the Capitol Riots, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested. According to court documents, on the same day of the arrest, settings had been changed in the message log between Tarrio and Lamond so that messages would self-destruct.
Prosecutors say that Tarrio and Lamond have had a…
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