Three men allegedly targeted by a local Antifa branch while protesting a Fort Worth drag brunch are suing the group they say is responsible for inflicting injury on them, as well as four named and ten unnamed members of that group.
The plaintiffs, Joshua Finecy, Anthony Long, and Kyle Randle, are all members of a Catholic fraternal organization that holds a faith-based objection to the ‘family-friendly’ drag shows for which the defendants were reportedly providing security.
The Antifa organization, the Elm Fork John Brown Club, is described as a “militia” organization in the lawsuit.
“Defendant Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (“Elm Fork JBGC”) is a violent extremist group made up of individuals who promote radical ideologies and who seek to intimidate or coerce Texans who hold beliefs at odds with the hateful radicalism of the Elm Fork JBGC,” the suit alleges.
The lawsuit details the Antifa group’s routine attendance at protests surrounding various drag events in North Texas and alleges members of the organization “engage in violence or with reckless disregard of such foreseeable violence.”
The organization made national headlines when members allegedly intimidated Roanoke residents last fall by staging an armed and masked roadblock in downtown Roanoke outside another brewery hosting a ‘family-friendly’ drag show.
The drag show incident that triggered the lawsuit, an April 23 confrontation outside of Fort Brewery that reportedly culminated with Elm Fork JBGC members pepper-spraying the plaintiffs and clashing with local police, also resulted in the recent indictment of three of the Antifa affiliate members in Tarrant County.
The lawsuit describes a coordinated attack which the armed and masked Antifa members allegedly launched on the plaintiffs.
“Defendant Fowlkes approached behind the protection of his armed comrades,” the suit reads. “Fowlkes carried a rainbow-colored flag and openly carried a handgun on his waist. Using the cover provided by his co-conspirators, Fowlkes reached into his tactical vest, quickly leaned forward between the two armed Elm Fork JBGC members and doused Plaintiffs’ faces with pepper spray.”
“Plaintiffs sustained immediate and painful injuries from the spray,” it continues, “including temporary blindness, burning in the eyes, mouth, and nose, irritation of the skin, swollen eyes, difficulty breathing and residual pain.”
The suit seeks damages of $250,000 and lists four causes of action: assault, battery, civil conspiracy, and stalking.
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