Ellettsville resident Ryan Hughes, 42, was arrested Friday afternoon following a Bloomington protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the city’s use of Flock Safety surveillance cameras. He was accused of pointing a firearm at and pepper spraying people passing the protest.
After gathering at City Hall, walking to Sample Gates and marching down Kirkwood Avenue, about 100 protesters gathered outside the Monroe County Courthouse, chanting and holding signs that called for ICE to be abolished and condemned Bloomington’s contract with Flock.
Hughes was arrested on four charges that allegedly occurred near the protest. The charges included intimidation and pointing a firearm, level 5 and 6 felonies, as well as two battery charges, class A misdemeanors, Bloomington Police Department Captain Ryan Pedigo said in an email.
At about 2:15 p.m., officers responded to a complaint near the Walnut Street and Kirkwood Avenue intersection next to the courthouse. A 47-year-old man claimed he was trying to turn onto Walnut Street, but a protester, later identified as Hughes, had blocked the vehicle in front of him by standing in the middle of the street, Pedigo wrote. The man said he tried to drive around the vehicle, but the protester stepped in front of him.
The man reported Hughes pointed a shotgun at him and said, “I’ll fuck you up,” causing the driver to “fear for his life,” according to the email. The man also alleged other protesters hit his vehicle and caused damage.
Hughes was described as wearing dark clothing and a black mask, carrying a red and white megaphone, a shotgun with a pistol grip and a handgun strapped to his chest. Another person who called BPD reported witnessing Hughes point a gun at passing vehicles.
BPD later located Hughes in the 400 block of East Fourth Street and determined he was carrying a loaded Bersa 9mm handgun, a loaded 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun with a pistol grip and pepper spray.
Indiana Daily Student reporters on the scene saw one protester wearing a black hoodie that read “FUCK ICE” and face coverings that shielded all but his eyes. He appeared to have a shotgun slung across his body that was decorated with white writing that read “ICE BRR.”
He helped protesters cross the street over to the courthouse, sometimes holding up his hand to cars attempting to turn.
At about 2:40 p.m. BPD responded to a report of a man who was allegedly pepper sprayed by Hughes. The 41-year-old man reported he went to the protest to find his 15-year-old daughter who left school to protest without his permission. He told officers he saw a man carrying a megaphone and shotgun and assumed he was a protest leader, Pedigo wrote.
Then, the man reported that he walked toward the man with the megaphone and tried to ask if he had seen his daughter, but the man allegedly hit him with his shoulder and sprayed him in the face with pepper spray.
IDS reporters at the scene reported seeing a man march through the crowd, shouting at the protesters for blocking the sidewalk.
“Excuse me, you are blocking the goddamn sidewalk,” the man yelled.
He made his way toward people gathered in the road and approached the protester observed wearing a mask and shotgun.
“What issue bud, you wanna shoot me, fucking shoot me,” he said to the protester.
The protester sprayed something in the shouting man’s face. The shouting man rubbed his eyes and walked away while the crowd shouted at him.
At about 3 p.m., an officer took a report of a previous assault from a 65-year-old man who alleged Hughes sprayed him in the face with pepper spray. According to the email, the man was attempting to turn onto Walnut Street when a man wearing a face covering and dark clothing, armed with a shotgun, was in the road.
The man said he rolled his window down and told the armed man to back up. He then allegedly sprayed the man in the vehicle with pepper spray. The two yelled at each other before the man drove away.
Hughes posted bail and has an initial hearing scheduled for Friday, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Kehr said in an email.
