The action ushered AWD out of the digital realm and into the real world. In November 2015, roughly a month after Russell announced AWD’s formation on the neo-Nazi forum Iron March, Arthurs and Russell put up propaganda encouraging readers to “Join your local Nazis!” at the University of Central Florida. Though members of the white power movement and the media have often exclusively credited Russell with forming AWD, Arthurs played a crucial early role. While Arthurs has spent much of the last six years in prison, his role in the movement prior to his 2017 arrest was integral. The process for successfully exiting violent extremist movements can take years,” Richards told Hatewatch in an email. “A guilty plea is a step toward accountability, but it is only one step. Patrick Richards, the executive director of Life After Hate – a non-profit that supports those trying to leave hate groups – told Hatewatch that Arthurs needed to focus “on his own disengagement and deradicalization” first. I’m very sorry for everything that happened,” Arthurs said. … I’m very sorry for everyone that was involved. “I’d like to take this moment to tell the world to stay away from extremist groups. “I feel I can be an advocate against extremism,” Arthurs said, per the Tampa Bay Times. Arthurs, who co-founded AWD with Brandon Russell in 2015, said he had been “brainwashed” by extremist groups, according to the Tampa Bay Times. ![]() He appeared to apologize for the murders and his involvement in the neo-Nazi movement. ![]() Upon filing his guilty plea on Monday, Arthurs addressed the court. 2, the process server noted that they were unable to serve Russell because he “does not live at this address.” ‘The road to redemption is long and hard’ However, in a document filed with the court on Mar. 28, a process server traveled with a subpoena to the apartment that Russell shared with Arthurs in 2017. Prosecutors tried to subpoena Russell, who is currently being held in a detention center in Maryland while awaiting trial, to testify in Arthurs’ case, according to court records. In early 2023, police arrested Russell once again, this time on charges of plotting terror attacks targeting energy infrastructure. Russell was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to five years in federal prison on explosives-related charges. Law enforcement released Russell – who had arrived home after Arthurs murdered Oneschuk and Himmelman – at the scene, only to arrest him again two days later in Key Largo, Florida. Arthurs said he shot both men because they failed to respect his Muslim faith.ĭuring their search of Russell and Arthurs’ apartment, police found bomb-making equipment and hate literature. Law enforcement officers found the bodies of two men, later identified as Oneschuk and Himmelman, with gunshot wounds to the upper body and head. As police escorted Arthurs to a squad car after arranging with him to release the hostages in the store, Arthurs replied to an officer’s request regarding if anyone else was hurt, saying “The people in the apartment, but they aren’t hurt, they’re dead.”Īrthurs directed police to the apartment, which he shared with AWD co-founder Brandon Russell. bombings against Muslim-majority countries. During that time, Arthurs, a self-proclaimed convert to radical Islam from neo-Nazism, made repeated references to U.S. According to a police report filed on May 20, 2017, officers arrested Arthurs after he brandished a firearm and held multiple customers and employees hostage at the Green Planet Smoke Shop in Tampa. ![]() The murder charges stem from an attack on May 19, 2017, when Arthurs murdered two people and held three others hostage. Arthurs underwent treatment, and in June 2022, the court found Arthurs capable of standing trial and resumed proceedings. In early 2018, two court-appointed doctors told the court that they believed Arthurs suffered from a mental illness and was unfit to stand trial at the time, according to court records. In that document, Arthurs’ lawyers said that while he “knew what he was doing, Defendant did not know it was wrong” and cited his diagnosis of schizoaffective and autism spectrum disorders. It also represents an about-face for his defense team, which had stated its intention to rely on an insanity plea in a notice of intent filed with the court on Feb. Hatewatch reached out to Arthurs via his lawyer, who declined to comment on the case.Īrthurs’ guilty plea brings an abrupt end to what would have been a two-week jury trial, originally set to take place from May 8-19 at the Hillsborough County Court in Tampa. Devon Arthurs' 2022 Hillsborough County Jail booking photo via Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
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