Arizona man allegedly plotted mass shooting at Atlanta concert to incite race war

Mark Adams Prieto, 58, of Arizona allegedly plotted a mass shooting targeting African Americans and people of color at a rap concert in Atlanta in May, looking to incite a race war ahead of the presidential election, federal authorities said.

Man allegedly plotted mass shooting

Prieto was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday, June 11 on charges of firearms trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime and possession of an unregistered firearm.

Indictment

The indictment follows a months long investigation by the FBI that resulted in  his arrest last month, the Justice Department said.

Investigation into Mark Adams Prieto

The investigation into Prieto began in October, after a confidential source reported to the FBI in Phoenix that an individual, later identified as Prieto, had expressed a desire to incite a race war prior to the presidential election, the arrest affidavit obtained by NBC News states.

Alarming comments

The source told authorities that they had spoken to Prieto on more than 15 occasions over the course of three years at various gun shows. The chats grew from small talk to political conversations, the affidavit says. Within the last year, the source told authorities that Prieto began making suspicious and alarming comments, including “advocating for a mass shooting,” and specifically targeting Blacks, Jews or Muslims, the affidavit says.

Mark Adams Prieto (Photo Credit: Department of Justice)

Prieto was a vendor at gun shows in Arizona and would trade firearms from his personal collection, using only cash deals or trades to evade the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the affidavit says.

Investigation into Mark Adams Prieto

From January to March, the FBI began surveillance on Prieto.

On Jan. 21, Prieto told the source and an undercover FBI agent acting as an associate of the source at a gun show in Phoenix that he wanted them to help him carry out a mass shooting targeting African Americans at a yet-to-be-determined rap concert in Atlanta, the affidavit says.

According to the affidavit, Prieto said: “The reason I say Atlanta. Why, why is Georgia such a f——up state now? When I was a kid that was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why is it not now? Because as the crime got worse in L.A., St. Louis, and all these other cities, all the [N-words] moved out of those [places] and moved to Atlanta. That’s why it isn’t so great anymore. And they’ve been there for a couple, several years.”

He also expressed that he specifically wanted to target a rap concert because there would be a “high concentration of African Americans there” and he planned to leave confederate flags after the shooting to send a message that “we’re going to fight back now, and every whitey will be the enemy across the whole country,” and to shout “whities out here killing, what’s we gonna do” and “KKK all the way,” the affidavit says. Prieto said he wanted to show “no mercy, no quarter.”

Weapons

Prieto also allegedly told the source and undercover agent what types of weapons he planned to use, suggested that they travel to Atlanta before the attack to store weapons in the area, and stressed the importance that the shooting results in a high body count.

About a month later, while under surveillance, Prieto went to a gun show in Phoenix and walked to the source’s vendor booth, where he asked the source and the undercover agent if they still planned to participate in the attack, the affidavit says.

On the second day of that February gun show, Prieto is alleged to have sold a firearm to the undercover agent for $2,000.

On March 23, at a gun show in Prescott Valley, Prieto told the undercover agent that he still planned to move forward with the attack, saying that if they waited until after the election, “they might have everything in place you can’t even drive, you’ll be stopped,” the affidavit says. He also said that the targeted event would likely be a rap concert at State Farm Arena in Atlanta scheduled to take place May 14 and May 15, or sometime in June or July, according to the affidavit. Authorities did not specify what concert.

Prieto also allegedly told the undercover agent that he wanted them to wear hoodies, according to the affidavit, because he believed no one was going to be suspicious about someone wearing a hoodie at a rap concert.

Arrest

At another gun show in April in Prescott Valley, the affidavit says, when the undercover agent asked Prieto whether the attack would still take place in May, he said he wanted to push it back.

Prieto was later arrested on a New Mexico interstate on May 14. He admitted to knowing the undercover agent and the confidential source and to having discussed with them conducting an attack on a public venue in Atlanta like a “rock” concert attended by young people and minorities.

“However, he told agents that he did not intend to go forward with the attack,” the affidavit states.

According to authorities, Prieto is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for transport from New Mexico to Arizona.