RadioOnFire.com - Authorities continue to make arrests for crimes documented from the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville earlier this month, with police detaining 52-year-old Richard Wilson Preston for firing a shot at counter protesters outside of Emancipation Park. Preston was booked on Saturday, August 26, only one day after booking Daniel Patrick Borden, 18, for participating in the beating of Deandre Harris that was captured on video and went viral in the days that followed the violent rally.
Preston is said to have yelled the n-word at a counter protester before drawing his firearm and aiming in the direction of dissenters with the intention of intimidating rivals. After gesturing as though he was about to let off, Preston slightly tilted the gun so that he would hit the ground, and followed through with the threat. Video of the incident, which was discovered by ACLU staffers who've been mining through footage from the rally, was published immediately after Preston's arrest. The FBI had already gotten to review a copy sent to them on August 17, as did the Charlottesville Police Department, which received a copy on the 20th.
Local authorities have been facing ridicule over what many believe was a failure to act on the violence witnessed in the Virginia town. Corinne Geller of the Virginia State Police has responded to queries into the force's lack of action as it pertains to the shooting by claiming that officers weren't aware of the incident taking place because they could not hear the blast through “the loud volume of the crowd yelling and chanting, drums and music.”
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