2 'Boogaloo Bois' charged with conspiring with terrorist organization

Two members of the Boogaloo Bois, including one from Minnesota, have been indicted on federal charges of attempting to provide material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.

The Boogaloo Bois is a loose-knit group of anti-government extremists. The heavily armed members often mobilize on social media and have garnered more prominence and law enforcement scrutiny this year. The term “Boogaloo” refers to a second civil war in the United States and is associated with violent anti-government uprisings, according to the complaint.

Michael Robert Solomon, 30, of New Brighton, and Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 22, of Hampstead, N.C., allegedly sought to capitalize on the unrest following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Solomon was seen openly carrying a firearm in a residential neighborhood during that time, according to a witness.

A Star Tribune investigation in July found references to the Boogaloo Bois in dozens of leaked state and federal documents from the rioting in late May and early June. Solomon was singled out by name in one of the bulletins, which cautioned that he and others were ready to shoot police if they approached a home in Minneapolis where they were staged.

“We know we have a target [on us], that’s why we don’t meet up in big groups, because we know we’re probably going to get raided,” Solomon said in July. “We know a lot of us are probably going to die.”