Asheville Police Department: Two people arrested for IEDs, armed at previous protest
ASHEVILLE - Two people have been charged with possessing homemade explosives or bombs at a July 4 celebration downtown, according to court documents.
Chioke Auden Fugate, 23, and Duncan Andrew Small, 30, possessed a "homemade incendiary device" of "cardboard tubes filled with black powder and covered by tape," according to magistrate's orders filed by the Asheville Police Department. "The devices were designed in such a way that they appeared to be homemade explosives or bombs," the documents say.
“This sort of activity around a large crowd could have been deadly, so we are grateful it didn’t turn out worse last night,” said Police Chief David Zack in a statement.
In a news release, police said Fugate and Small lit IEDs "similar to pipe bombs" and threw them at what remained of the Vance Monument. No one was injured, the release says. The department's bomb squad responded to the scene and located the remnants of an exploded IED at Pack Square, police say.
“The size of the device used and nature of the energetic materials therein presented a clear threat to human life, especially in light of its use in such a densely populated area,” Bomb Squad Commander Capt. Joe Silberman said in a statement.
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A magistrate's order says that Fugate admitted to having homemade explosives "by making spontaneous utterances that he threw the devices at nearby individuals."
Small fired an "orange flare gun into the air in downtown Asheville while there were families and individuals standing nearby," another says.
Police found zip-tie handcuffs and a two-way radio belonging to Small, and leather gloves and a gas mask belonging to Fugate. In Small’s vehicle, they found a ballistic vest, pistol and ammunition, and a flare gun and ammunition, according to the release.
Witnesses at the scene also told officers they overheard Small say that he was going to blow up what remains of the monument, the release says.
Small was arrested in June for bringing a gun to an Asheville protest against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. At the time, police asked for help identifying him and another man, who they now say was Fugate.
Police referenced a previous email that the department shared from someone claiming to be an "Antifa footsoldier" ready to seemingly test the department, noting that the incident happened one day after the department received the email.
Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is not an organization. FBI Director Christopher Wray has described it as "more of an ideology than an organization," though right-wing leaders have frequently treated it as an organization.
Fugate has been charged with the following, according to court documents:
Possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Going armed to the terror of the people.
He is being held in the Buncombe County jail on a secured $15,000 bond.
Small has been charged with the following:
Felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Misdemeanor going armed to the terror of the people.
Discharging a firearm in city limits.
Neither had been assigned an attorney as of July 5, according to the county public defender's office.
Ryan Oehrli is the breaking news and social justice reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email coehrli@citizentimes.com or call/text 252-944-6816 for tips.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville arrests made for 'homemade explosives or bombs' on 4th
