A 70-year-old Alabama man who was arrested with 11 Molotov cocktails, guns and ammo after the US Capitol riot also had “concerning handwritten messages” in his truck — including one that singled out US Rep. André Carson of Indiana, according to a report.
Lonnie Coffman, of Falkville, had the “ready to go’’ explosive devices in his red GMC pickup along with an M4 carbine assault rifle and two handguns, Justice Department officials have said.
The Trump supporter was indicted in federal court Monday on 17 charges after prosecutors said the explosive devices and firearms were found in his vehicle during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
In court documents filed Tuesday, prosecutors included a photograph of a handwritten note describing conservative media personalities as “good guys,” a judge appointed by President Barack Obama as a “bad guy” and a message about the Democratic congressman, the Indianapolis Star reported.
The note does not explicitly label Carson as in either the “good” or “bad” category, but indicates he is one of a small number of Muslims serving in the House, according to the new outlet.
On the handwritten note was a quote Coffman attributed to Abraham Lincoln.
“We The People Are the Rightful Masters of Both The Congress and The courts, Not To Overthrow The Constitution But to Overthrow The Men Who Pervert The Constitution,” he wrote, the Indianapolis Star reported.
Citing fact-checking website Snopes.com, the newspaper noted that Lincoln did write something similar to that quote, but used the words in the context of preventing the spread of slavery.
In a motion for pretrial detention, prosecutors said the messages “raise alarm in the context of the January 6 rioting and criminal infringement on our nation’s democratic process.”
“… the handwritten messages in the defendant’s pickup truck raise grave concerns about his intentions, and suggest that these weapons were intended to be used in an effort to violently attack our elected representatives,” US Attorney Michael R. Sherwin wrote, according to the report.
Carson told the Indianapolis Star that he found out about the letter through the media and that he found it “extremely disturbing” to learn he was “in a list of ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ targeted for attacks.”
He said it was “especially disappointing” that law enforcement did not notify him he was “targeted and at risk from the indicted terrorist and his co-conspirators.”
“The indicted terrorist had the means and opportunity to carry out his plans to violently attack, injure and destroy government officials and related offices in our Nation’s Capitol,” Carson said in a statement to the paper.
“These were not idle threats. These were planned and organized measures to take my life, my colleagues’ lives and try to destroy our government,” he said.
“Sadly, as a Black man and a Muslim fighting for equality, I have often been the target of death threats by domestic terrorists. … Seeing these seditionists rampage throughout the Capitol with their confederate flags, learning that many of the attackers had affiliations with law enforcement organizations, and then seeing the arsenals these attackers held, there should no longer be any doubt that this dangerous threat must be addressed as soon as possible,” Carson added.
Prosecutors said the number of weapons recovered from Coffman’s truck suggested “an intent to provide them to others, as no one person could reasonably use so many at once.”
They noted that the Molotov cocktails — which contained a napalm-like substance that would stick to the target and continue to burn — were created to be particularly lethal, the outlet reported.