‘They are destructive’: Atlanta police offering $200K for arrest of training center activists

ATLANTA — Atlanta police say they now know with certainty that protesters are the ones who released a police horse in the middle of the night.

We showed you body camera video in March when investigators say the horse was lured out of the mounted APD’s patrol facility.

The video shows the horse named Cody outside the gate after someone cut the fence around the paddock and lured him outside with feed and apples.

On Wednesday, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said a group opposing the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center went online and took credit for the break-in at the police stables.

“They took credit just most recently on April 6 and said, yes, they were the ones. Yes, they went into an Atlanta police facility, cut the fence and while they were able to lure one horse out, the other horses remained,” Schierbaum said.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens joined Scheinbaum along with Atlanta’s fire chief and the FBI and ATF, and in some of the strongest language so far, condemned what they are calling “targeted attacks by extremists.”

“These are not MLK versions of peaceful, non-violent protests. On the contrary. These are arsons, vandals. They are destructive, and they have committed acts of violence against the people of Atlanta and the metro Atlanta region,” Dickens said.

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In fact, Scheinbaum said it appears arsons far outside the city limits, including a recent one at a Fayette County construction site, are linked with the same people, and with people who set police cruisers on fire.

Dickens said these continued acts of violence should serve as an eye-opener for those who may support the people committing them.

“These individuals are not peaceful protestors. They are violent actors having arson, vandalism, destruction as their main set of acts,” Dickens said.

Police have made a few arrests.

They want to make more for the individuals responsible and said there is a $200,000 reward leading to an arrest and conviction in these cases.

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