I understand your concern. I am also wary of and annoyed by people who throw out spurious half-accusations for shock value. Also, I really do appreciate you asking as a question rather than an assertion that I’m full of it, as so many people have been eager to send my way with regards to this story, so many people who were not there and do not know me at all.
To answer your question:
Having been there, I do have a set of reasons for believing it might very well have been coordinated. However, my intent within the article was not to assert that to be the case, but rather not to neglect the possibility, because I don’t think a lot of people yet realize it could have been the case. It’s very much being portrayed as a simple lone wolf situation, and what I wanted was to leave room for further discovery, not necessarily to inflame.
Deia and I are considering going to some sort of authority with this, but we don’t have strong footage of what we witnessed that was suspicious, so it may be pointless. However, here’s what I witnessed that suggests potential collusion:
- A while before the attack but after Lee park had been cleared and most of the demonstrators seemed to have left the downtown, when counter-protesters were regrouping at another park, a pickup truck full of white nationalist types tore around the park a couple times, acting like they were doing a recon mission. Sitting in the flat bed, shields up to create a sort of wall through which they peered, yelling info into walkie talkies about the scene to somebody. Most of the counter-protesters reacted like they were a bunch of losers who thought they were GI Joes, and that’s honestly what they looked like, but they clearly seemed to think they were gaining valuable military type intel for some reason.
- The group in the park received some “intel” from someone that maybe 70 "fash” (fascists) were still in the city, and were purportedly harrassing, maybe harming some people of color down at a place called Friendship Court. This was used as the reason for which all the counter-protestors mobilized from the more northern park where we were at the time.
- As the crowd was walking southward toward Friendship Court, one guy asked me in a fairly odd way where everyone was going, and then stayed where he was.
- Another guy was walking with the crowd further down relaying information through a headset about where the crowd was heading. I think this guy was likely a journalist of some kind, but I dunno. It was weird.
- At 4th and Water Street, where everyone turned left to walk north up 4th Street, we were supposed to turn right to walk south toward Friendship Court. I had assumed at the time that new intel had said the “fash” were no longer at Friendship Court, and that the march had become a victory lap, because that what it felt like. I found out later, though, that a few people were still trying to direct people south at the time of the attack, confused about why people were turning north into that narrow street.
- We have some footage over the heads of the crowd of a few pairs of arms clearly redirecting the crowd to turn north up 4th. I have no idea who they were. They were only arms.
- At the moment of the attack, it felt exactly like a set up. The guy plowed headlong into the front of a giant crowd of people who had just been diverted from their intended path up a narrow street. It felt like it was optimized for maximum damage. That’s partially why I thought people might be coming to shoot us. It felt like we were turned up that narrow street so we could be plowed into. Of course, maybe it was all coincidence, but it really really felt that way, and I want the authorities to investigate it seriously.
Anyway, that is all of course still highly wrapped in instincts and speculation, so I didn’t include that stuff in the article. Also, the article was long enough is it is. In any case, I didn’t want to feed further into the lone wolf narrative that 1) acts as a scape goat for the whole NAZI gathering to say they weren’t responsible and 2) may actually allow co-conspirators to get away with murder. Rather, I wanted to leave it open to possibility, so that it doesn’t go un-considered.