July 18, 2010 and After: Convicted Felon Stopped on Way to Murdering 11 Members of Progressive Non-Profit Organizations; Says Intent Is to ‘Start a Revolution’ against Liberal Government

Byron Williams, in a photo taken shortly after his arrest. [Source: CBS News]California resident Byron Williams opens fire on Highway Patrol officers after being stopped on an Oakland freeway. Williams is wearing body armor and carrying multiple firearms, including a .308-caliber rifle using armor-piercing rounds. The officers stopped Williams after observing him speeding and weaving through traffic, and Williams opens fire on the officers. Ten Highway Patrol officers ultimately converge on the scene. Williams survives the 12-minute shootout, but is struck several times by police bullets; he inflicts minor injuries on two officers. Williams is a convicted felon who was released from jail two years ago after serving a sentence for bank robbery. His mother, Janice Williams, says he has had a difficult time getting his life together after being released from prison. Mrs. Williams also says her son is extremely angry with the US government. She says: “He’s been upset with the direction the country is going. He feels the people of this country are being raped by our government and politicians.” Williams blames “liberals” in government for making it difficult for him to find a job. Evidence taken from Williams’s truck, and a subsequent interview with Williams, show that he intended to “start a revolution” by killing liberal activists in San Francisco. Williams admits to planning on murdering people at the San Francisco offices of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Tides Foundation, an organization that promotes progressive social causes. Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason says Williams targeted the two nonprofit organizations because of their political ideologies. “Retribution was called for with Tides or anyone working for George Soros [a billionaire known for funding progressive causes] (see August 8, 2006 and February 2007) by taking out 11 people,” Williams says, and adds that he chose to murder 11 people in retribution for the 11 workers killed in the April 2010 oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Williams says of his intentions to murder: “I regret it only because of the conditions I’m in and the pain that I’ve put on my mother. But I am 100 percent convinced that we cannot beat the system of corruption.” The Tides Foundation says in a statement, “This is a reminder of the intolerant climate that has been created by the demagogues and fear-mongering pundits of the right wing.” [KXTV, 7/18/2010; Associated Press, 7/21/2010; KGO-TV, 9/15/2010; Media Matters, 10/11/2010] In a jailhouse interview, Williams will say that much of his political thinking was sparked by Fox News commentator Glenn Beck (see October 11, 2010).