Selfie and Facebook posts lead to arrest of Boogaloo Bois member in Texas, feds say

A Boogaloo Bois member in Texas was arrested after a selfie at a protest captured him unlawfully carrying a gun, officials say.

Cameron Emerson Casey Rankin, 21, was charged Thursday with prohibited possession of a firearm due to his previous committal to a mental institution, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.

Rankin is the latest Texas member of the far-right group that espouses violent anti-government rhetoric to be arrested this month. “Boogaloo” references a second impending civil war in the U.S., authorities say.

Last week, authorities arrested Ivan Harrison Hunter, 26, who was charged with rioting after he was accused of firing into the Minneapolis police precinct building that burned down during George Floyd protests, authorities say.

Rankin and others carrying long guns and pistols went to a protest at the Alamo in San Antonio in late May, despite a previous warning that he wasn’t allowed to have firearms, authorities say.

A day later, he posted photos of himself to Facebook carrying a gun at the protest, adding comments “hope they burn the precinct down” and “I’m a BOOGALOO we hate police,” authorities say.

In August, Rankin posted a selfie to Facebook of himself with a rifle upright against his shoulder with a finger on the trigger, authorities say.

A week later, he boarded a flight to New Hampshire and checked a handgun, authorities say. After missing a connecting flight in Philadelphia, Rankin arrived in New Hampshire and ATF agents met him in the terminal. They seized a handgun and ammunition from Rankin’s luggage, authorities say.

The FBI obtained a search warrant for Rankin’s apartment in San Antonio and searched the residence Wednesday, where they found a rifle and ammunition, authorities say.

“Firearms in the hands of prohibited persons present a real danger to the law-abiding residents of our community,” U.S. Attorney Gregg Sofer said in a news release. “When illegal firearms possession is combined with mental illness and violent, extremist ideologies, we have a prescription for disaster.”

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