A Metropolitan Police lieutenant stands criminally accused of giving a Proud Boys leader advance notice that his arrest was imminent.
Enrique Tarrio didn’t make it to the January 6th attack at the Capitol because he’d been arrested for a previous offense, stealing and destroying a #BlackLivesMatter flag belonging to a local church.
Staying out of D.C. was part of the terms of his pre-trial release.
Shane Lamond is accused in his indictment of giving Tarrio advance warning about the investigation into the stolen flag, amongst other tips.
That’s not all.
Lieutenant Lamond also defended the Proud Boys to his colleagues, claiming that they were a group of Black and Latino individuals, “so it’s not a racist thing.”
He shared this with Tarrio, who told fellow extremists they had “got the jump” on the narrative. In court, for the crimes – which narrowly avoided hate crime charges – he claimed his motivation was not racial but political.
The Lieutenant kept in regular contact with Tarrio, messaging him after Donald Trump’s loss in November 2020 to ask if the group was planning anything, to which Tarrio responded in the affirmative.
Later, he messaged further to warn Tarrio that people were being arrested for the attack on the Capitol. According to the indictment, the officer said:
“Looks like the feds are locking people up for rioting at the Capitol. hope none of your guys were among them…Of course I can’t say it officially, but personally I support you all and don’t want to see your group’s name or reputation dragged through the mud.”
Shane Lamond is being charged with one count of obstructing an investigation and four counts of false statements.
In further messages, Lamond can be seen telling Tarrio that even those who didn’t participate in the destruction of property or violence could face felonies.
Furthermore, Lamond is accused of covering up his conversations with Tarrio.
Many exchanges of theirs were deleted.
He’s also charged with lying to investigators.
The Lieutenant claimed that Tarrio was just telling him about the group’s plans and denied giving the extremist group leader any inside information.
He specifically denied discussing the burned BLM banner with Tarrio, informing him that there was a warrant for his arrest.
Here’s a screenshot from MPD Lieutenant Shane Lamond’s indictment documents:
Clarification: This story originally referred to Tarrio’s destruction of property charges for burning a Church’s BLM flag as a “hate crime.” While that was investigated, he was not charged under the hate crime statute.