Racial justice activists who were fired upon near Bedford, Pa., keep marching to D.C.
A group of racial justice activists faced hostility and gunshots while passing through rural Pennsylvania this week.
Members of the Milwaukee-based group, which is making its way to Washington, D.C., for the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, were confronted by local residents bearing arms on separate occasions in Bedford County.
The first shooting Monday night put one marcher in the hospital. State police continue to investigate and are trying to determine if this should be classified as a hate crime. A second shooting took place less than 24 hours later. No one was injured. Criminal charges were filed against a local man.
The group of about two dozen people, including a number of children, still hopes to complete the more than 750-mile journey to the nation's capital, where its leaders are slated to give speeches at a march hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Shooting injures one
Approximately two dozen activists were making their way along Route 30 in Juniata Township, accompanied by a caravan of cars carrying supplies. They were taking a break in the parking lot of a business in the 800 block of Lincoln Highway before 11:30 p.m. Monday when the property owner confronted them, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
There was an "exchange" of gunshots, according to state police, but a spokesman refused to clarify if that meant both parties fired rounds. Police found two guns - a shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol - and spent shotgun shells and 9mm casings at the scene.
One of the activists was struck by birdshot -- small pellets -- and was hospitalized at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown. He was released Tuesday.
Tory Lowe, who is a leader of the march along with Frank "Nitty" Sensabaugh, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the incident was unprovoked. He said the group had stopped at the bottom of a hill and was trying to decide whether they should continue or head to a hotel for the night. Some members started up the hill to see how steep it was when someone came out of a home and started shooting, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Lowe said the man was firing indiscriminately and saying expletives and racial slurs while yelling at the group to leave, the Journal Sentinel reported.
It was at this point that one of the activists, whom Lowe identified as a Milwaukee man named Cino, was shot.
More:'There's no way to stop us': Milwaukee protesters begin march to Washington, D.C.
Lowe told the Milwaukee news outlet that no one had confronted the group before shots rang out.
State police, however, said a business owner called police at 11:18 p.m. reporting a group of people in his parking lot.
"He had asked them to leave and they wouldn't leave," state police Capt. Jamie Clark said during a press conference.
Two PSP major case units and the Bedford County District Attorney's Office are involved in the investigation. The PSP Heritage Affairs Unit, which works to build relationships with underserved communities and investigates hate crimes, is also involved.
"No one is insinuating this has any hate or racial animus to it. We are simply providing support to the investigation," Lt. William Slaton, commander of the Heritage Affairs Unit, said at a news conference.
Tpr. Brent Miller, PSP communications coordinator, encouraged anyone who witnessed the incident to call PA Crimestoppers at 1-800-4-PA-TIPS.
State police did not respond to requests for additional comment on Wednesday.
Man fires shots outside hotel
The activists were at the Hampton Inn in Bedford Township Tuesday when a man allegedly showed up and began firing a gun, according to state police.
Jeremy Decker, 43, of Everett has been charged with possession of a firearm while prohibited, carrying a firearm without a license and reckless endangerment, police said.
State police determined that the was approached by another group of people in the parking lot and an argument took place, WJAC-TV reported. The hotel owner asked the second group to leave, and gunshots were fired as they drove away, according to the station.
Police said they were able to identify the registration of the departing vehicle through a Facebook Live video. Police later pulled over the vehicle in the Borough of Bedford. Inside were Decker and another man, and multiple guns were in plain view.
As a convicted felon, it is illegal for Decker to have a gun.
Impact in the community
A Facebook Live video posted Tuesday evening shows a crowd of people, several of them armed, outside the Bedford County Courthouse.
When the woman behind the camera asks what is going on, some of them tell her about the marchers and the shooting from the night before. They go on to allege that some members of the group were posting on social media that they were going to come burn down the courthouse, and they were there to stop it.
Asked for a statement about the Monday night shooting, U.S. Rep. John Joyce, whose district includes Bedford County, said: “This is an ongoing investigation, and we must allow the dedicated law enforcement officials of Bedford County to do their job and discern the facts.”
On Thursday, the group was hours away from its final destination.
"We’re coming in hot. We’ll be there," Lowe told USA Today, from his hotel room in Maryland, about 60 miles outside D.C. "Right now – for this time in this moment in this country – this walk represents a civil rights march of historic importance."
Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.