Detroit Leaders On 'Hit List' Of Suspected White Supremacist
DETROIT (WWJ) - Two local leaders say the FBI has informed them that their names have shown up on a "hit list" of a suspected white supremacist.
Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, and Scott Kaufman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, say Ohio FBI agents told them the list is linked to 37-year-old Richard Schmidt.
Anthony said FBI agents revealed few details, but wanted to be sure he was made aware of the situation. Kaufman said he also spoke to agents, but was told there was no immediate or specific threat.
As for what's going to happen, Anthony said his group has been targeted before and they have no extensive plans to increase their security measures. He said nothing is going to hault their mission of defending civil rights.
Schmidt, an ex-felon who is described as a suspected white supremacist, was indicted in January on weapons and counterfeiting charges. Authorities suspecting Schmidt of trafficking counterfeit goods conducted a search in December of his house in Ohio, just outside Toledo, as well as at his business, Spindletop Sports Zone in Bowling Green.
Aside from the "hit list," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio says law enforcement agents found 18 firearms, body armor, high-capacity magazines and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition during their search. The agents also discovered evidence of Schmidt's ties to the neo-Nazi movement, according to court documents.
Among his arsenal, Schmidt was in possession of a Stag Arms AR–15 rifle, an Armalite AR–10 rifle, a Remington 870 Express 12–gauge shotgun, a Winchester M94 30/30 rifle, a Winchester M190 .22–caliber rifle, a Russian American Armory SAIGA 12–gauge shotgun, a Federal Arms Corporation FA 91 .308–caliber rifle, an Eagle Arms 5.56–caliber rifle, and a Sturm–Ruger .375 magnum pistol.
The attorney's office filed 176 indictments against Schmidt, who served prison time for a 1990 conviction for manslaughter, for violations of federal firearms laws -- with the average sentence being more than six years in prison.
"It is deeply troubling that law enforcement found this man, with a prior homicide conviction, in possession of an arsenal," Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a statement.
