A Texas judge has unsealed a trove of racist text messages and social media posts by an Army sergeant convicted of killing a BLM protester.
Daniel Perry was found guilty last week of murdering 28-year-old demonstrator Garrett Foster during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in downtown Austin. Perry is facing up to life in prison for fatally shooting Foster, who was legally carrying an AK-47 while marching over police accountability and racial injustice.
On Thursday, a Travis County judge unsealed a 76-page document with remarks made by Perry over the years, in which he discussed “shooting looters,” “hunting Muslims,” and white power memes. The disturbing messages and posts, first obtained by the Houston Chronicle, were filed in March but were not reviewed by the jury that convicted Perry.
“It is official, I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo. I was on the side of the [protesters] until they started with the looting and the violence,” Perry wrote in a post less than two months before Foster’s killing on 25 July 2020.
It comes just days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to approve a pardon “as soon as the recommendation hits [his] desk.” Mr Abbott has already asked Texas’ parole board to expedite a review of Perry’s conviction.
In other messages sent by Perry in May 2020, he said he “might go to Dallas to shoot looters” and that he “might have to kill a few people.”
“[Too] bad we can’t get paid for hunting Muslims in Europe,” he wrote in a 2019 message.
His internet search history also revealed that Perry googled “protestors in Seattle get shot,” “unarmed black men killed by police” and “degrees of murder charges.” It is not clear when the searches took place.
“This is Texas I wonder why no looters have been shot yet?” another message by Perry sent in May 2020 read.
Perry also compared the Black Lives Matter movement to a “zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their s***” and said the NAACP, America Association for Affirmative Action and Democratic party logos “represented racism in America.”
The disgraced Army veteran was working for a ride-sharing company in July 2020 when he turned onto a street and into one of the demonstrations that swept the country after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd. In a video that was streamed live on Facebook, a car can be heard honking amid the crowd in downtown Austin.
Then, several shots ring out, and protesters begin screaming and scattering. Perry drove off and later called police to report that he had shot a protester.
What led up to the gunfire was a core question in the trial that resulted in Perry’s conviction. Witnesses testified that Foster never raised his rifle at Perry, and prosecutors said the sergeant could have driven off rather than opening fire with a handgun.
Perry didn’t testify but his defence attorneys have said Foster pointed his gun at the driver and that the shooting was self-defence.
Less than 24 hours after the verdict, Mr Abbott tweeted that he had directed the state parole board to investigate the case. He suggested the jury “nullified” Texas’ so-called “Stand Your Ground” law, which removes the duty to retreat before using deadly force in the face of danger.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza, whose office prosecuted the case, called Mr Abbott’s remarks “deeply troubling.” He said the jurors deliberated for more than 15 hours to find Perry “guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt,” and the case can be reviewed through the normal appeals process.
Perry was stationed at Texas’ Fort Hood at the time of the shooting and most recently assigned to Fort Wainwright in Alaska. His defence said the conviction will end his Army service. On Tuesday, Perry filed an appeal motion for a new trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
