Feds charge Columbia suspects, others with rioting in May 30 George Floyd protests

Federal officials on Tuesday announced multiple charges against six defendants from Columbia, Charleston and North Charleston in connection with rioting that broke out over a weekend in late May in Columbia and Charleston as demonstrators protested the death of George Floyd in police custody.

The charges included arson and inciting riots in Columbia and Charleston on May 30 and May 31.

One of the charges announced Tuesday was in connection with the May 30 burning of a Columbia police car during the riot. A separate charge was placed against another defendant for burning a Charleston police car.

“While the large majority of participants exercised their First Amendment rights in a lawful manner, others engaged in violent criminal acts and threatened public safety, including assaulting citizens and law enforcement officers and vandalizing and destroying public and private property,” U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy said in a press release.

According to court records, those who have been charged or agreed to plead guilty are:

▪ Karlos Gibson-Brown, 24, of Columbia, has agreed to plead guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition for a riot-related incident on May 31.

▪ Marcello Woods, 28, of Columbia, has been charged with destroying a Columbia Police Department vehicle by means of fire for riot-related conduct on May 30. He was arraigned in federal court Thursday and is pleading not guilty. He has been released on a $25,000 bond. Federal public defender Katherine Evatt, who is representing Woods, declined to comment.

▪ Abraham Jenkins, 26, of Charleston, has agreed to plead guilty to civil disorders related to the violence and destruction on May 30.

▪ Kelsey Jackson, 28, of Charleston, has agreed to plead guilty to arson of a Charleston Police Department patrol car on May 30..

▪ Tearra Guthrie, 23, of Charleston, has agreed to plead guilty to civil disorders related to the violence and destruction on May 30.

▪ Orlando King, 31, of North Charleston, has agreed to plead guilty to a violation of the Anti-Riot Act related to the violence and destruction on May 30 and to being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from an unrelated incident on April 25.

Several of the charges carry significant maximum prison sentences. For example, arson is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Civil disorder and inciting a riot both carry a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Assistant U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case are Elliott Daniels, Emily Limehouse and Matt Austin.

These cases are being investigated by the FBI, ATF, Charleston Police Department, the Columbia Police Department, Richland County Sheriff’s Department and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Numerous other local police departments and solicitors’ offices across the state have assisted.

The Columbia riot broke out on the afternoon of May 30, a Saturday, after some protesters at a peaceful State House Black Lives Matter and I Can’t Breath demonstration in front of the State House marched to police headquarters. The State House demonstration had attracted several thousand people and several hundred then went to the Vista area around police headquarters.

For several hours, some people in the crowd threw stones and bottles at police, broke windows in numerous stores in the city’s Vista section and burned a police car.

The upheaval in Columbia was so bad that Mayor Steven Benjamin declared a state of emergency and a curfew beginning at 6 p.m. that Saturday.

Police were unprepared for the outbreak of violence that day, but since then there has been no similar rampages.

A video taken of Floyd’s death, while in custody of the Minneapolis police, went viral and sparked violent demonstrations around the nation and world. According to the video, Floyd, a Black man, repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe” while a white officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. Because of Floyd’s death, a national conversation about race continues to this day.

Columbia police and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department have already charged nearly 100 people in connection with the May 30 riots that took place in Columbia alone.

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 11:07 AM.