An Arizona man was indicted on federal weapons charges after being arrested as part of a sting operation that involved a planned hate crime-related mass shooting at an Atlanta concert. Mark Adams Prieto, 58, was charged with Firearms Trafficking, Transfer of a Firearm for Use in a Hate Crime, and Possession of an Unregistered Firearm nearly a month after his May 14 arrest, when he was pulled over in New Mexico while driving from his native Arizona to Florida while in possession of seven firearms. Those weapons, the Department of...

An Arizona man planned a mass shooting targeting Black concertgoers in Atlanta in an attempt to spark a “race war” before November’s U.S. presidential election, federal prosecutors said. Mark Adams Prieto, a 58-year-old gun show vendor, intended for the violence to unfold at a “rap concert” at the State Farm Arena on May 14 and May 15, court documents say. The venue’s calendar shows Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny was the only artist scheduled for those dates. Prieto’s plan unraveled because he was unaware that the two people...

An Arizona man plotted a mass shooting at a rap concert more than 1,600 miles away in hopes of inciting a race war ahead of the 2024 presidential election. An FBI source tipped off authorities to the plan last October after running into Mark Adams Prieto at gun shows since 2020, and once they got around to discussing politics the individual became alarmed by his comments about massacring Black people, Jews and Muslims, . “Prieto believes that martial law will be implemented shortly after the 2024 election and that a...

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A federal grand jury indicted a man from Prescott on Tuesday for selling guns for use in a planned mass shooting at a crowded concert in Atlanta. Mark Adams Prieto, 58, is facing several charges relating to planning an attack at a Bad Bunny concert at State Farm Arena in May. He planned to target African American and other minority concert-goers in order to incite a race war before the 2024 US Presidential Election, an FBI Phoenix Field Office spokesperson said. The indictment against Prieto alleges that...

An Arizona man who allegedly wanted to “incite a race war” ahead of the November US presidential election has been indicted on firearms charges, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Mark Adams Prieto, 58, of Prescott, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday and faces up to 25 years in prison, the department said in a statement. Prieto entered into discussions between January and May with two individuals to “devise a plan to commit a mass shooting of African Americans and other minorities to incite a race war prior...

In the latest incident fueling suspicions that conservatives want to incite MAGA violence around the upcoming presidential election, a suspected white supremacist has been charged for allegedly plotting “a race war” by way of a mass shooting of Black and brown people in Atlanta. Arizona man Mark Adams Prieto, 58, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday under federal hate crime charges that could land him in prison for well over a decade if convicted, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. MORE: Light Sentence? KKK Flag-Flying White Supremacist...

Authorities say they uncovered an Arizona man's plot to shoot and possibly kill African Americans and other minorities at a concert at Atlanta's State Farm Arena. On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted 58-year-old Mark Adams Prieto of Prescott on charges of firearms trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime, and possession of an unregistered firearm. According to the indictment, between January and May 2024, Prieto had been in discussions with two people who were secretly working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations to plan a...

A now-arrested Arizona man was plotting a racially motivated mass shooting in Georgia to incite a race war ahead of the upcoming election, the federal authorities say. The Department of Justice says 58-year-old Mark Prieto was planning a mass shooting and wanted to recruit others with racist beliefs. Court records allege Prieto revealed his plan to FBI informants, which involved shooting up a rap concert in Atlanta, Georgia because he believed there would be more Black people there. Prieto wanted to carry out his plan sometime before the election. He's...