Tattoo artist pleads guilty in racist beating near Lynnwood
LYNNWOOD — A far-right tattoo artist pleaded guilty Friday to a federal hate crime for an assault on a Black man who was working as a DJ in a Lynnwood-area bar.
Jason “Gravy” DeSimas, 45, of Tacoma, traveled to the area to commemorate the death of white supremacist leader Robert Jay Mathews, who was killed in a police standoff in 1984 on Whidbey Island. Along with a group of people affiliated with hate groups, DeSimas went to the Rec Room Bar and Grill on Dec. 8, 2018.
“DeSimas had discussed using ‘mutual combat’ against members of groups he opposed such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter,” according to a Department of Justice news release Friday. “DeSimas believed that he and his group could go into bars and initiate fights, so that the rest of the members of the group could join in.”
The assailants confronted the DJ, flashing Nazi salutes before and during the attack. Two other people were assaulted when they tried to defend the DJ. Security cameras captured DeSimas “assaulting the victims by striking downward with his arms, over and over,” according to federal court papers.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/tattoo-artist-pleads-guilty-in-racist-beating-near-lynnwood/
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