Man Threatening Protesters With Bow and Arrow Gets Beaten Down and Car Lit on Fire

(TMU) Op Ed – Shocking footage from downtown Salt Lake City has spread showing a middle-aged white male screaming “All Lives Matter!” from his car window before climbing out of his car and aiming a large bow and arrow at people participating in a massive protest against police brutality and racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

After pulling out his large hunting bow, the motorist – who later identified himself as Brandon McCormick – allegedly fired an arrow into the crowd. However, the alleged firing of an arrow was not captured on film and there are no reports that anyone was hurt by the weapon.

Regardless, after waving around the compound bow at protesters and threatening them with the deadly device, McCormick was quickly swarmed, beaten, and taken to the ground by protesters.

In one of the videos, someone shouts: “He’s shooting a bow!”

“Get this motherfucker, man,” says someone else. A woman then points to the bow and arrow, the woman says, “Don’t you dare!”

Twitter user @Gingersonfire wrote:

“He got out of his car, yelled ‘that’s it’, and shot into the crowd before being tackled.”

“He was yelling and me, and then aimed his bow at a black man standing behind me. The black man saw it coming, charged, and tackled him.”

A civilian brought a hunting bow to the #slcprotest and began shooting it at protesters. pic.twitter.com/UYZFtISb9I

— No Seas Racista ?? (@Gingersonfire) May 31, 2020

A second video clip filmed from a different angle shows demonstrators seeking cover and hiding behind vehicles near McCormick as he wildly swings the weapon around.

In a Twitter post of the video, user @princesslondy wrote: “F*cking bastard deserved it. Who the f*ck does this?!”

WELL THIS JUST HAPPENED IN DOWNTOWN SALT LAKE CITY. fucking bastard deserved it. WHO THE FUCK DOES THIS?!
VIDEO CREDIT : @jaxcino on LIVE IG #slcprotest pic.twitter.com/ZZvznaCUcM

— ♛ ʟᴏɴᴅʏʙᴀʙʏʏ ♛ (@princesslondyxx) May 31, 2020

After McCormick received a swift pummeling, protesters then smashed the windows of his compact car and flipped it over before proceeding to set it on fire, according to social media posts.

https://twitter.com/TheJazzyUte/status/1266885441090752512

The SLC police retreated and allowed rioters to light the man’s car on fire. pic.twitter.com/aXhBhXQODO

— No Seas Racista ?? (@Gingersonfire) May 31, 2020

McCormick, who was also in possession of a large knife, was quickly taken into custody by police.

In a later interview, McCormick accused protesters of attacking him after he began shouting disparaging slogans at them from his car. He complained:

“First I got beat up when I yelled, ‘All Lives Matter,’ then I pulled out weapons, then I got beat up some more, then cops grabbed me and my car got totaled.”

Hinting at an apparent criminal background, McCormick added that he is a reformed supporter of the police. He said:

“I’m a changed civilian, I’ve changed my life, I back up the law enforcement … I know some cops are bad.”

When a reporter urged McCormick to treat a wound sustained in the altercation, he replied: “I can’t afford to, I’m on unemployment.”

He later told Deseret News that he “came down here originally to help the cops.”

“But, all I did was yell out, ‘All lives matter’ and I got beat up by black people.”

McCormick is originally from Barstow, California, according to his Facebook profile. The profile also includes several far-right posts about Democratic politicians, including one where he expresses a wish to “go back in time to take out Oboma [sic] and Hillary in the crib.” In a separate post, he also expresses his wish that he could travel back in time to kill “Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, and stalled and musaliny” (Stalin and Mussolini).

Other posts are so grammatically mangled that it’s difficult to ascertain what he was trying to say.

Social media users have mockingly dubbed McCormick “Hawkeye” after the Marvel comics character who is known for being an ace with a bow and arrow.

One user remarked:

“Nobody told him to act like Hawkeye from Avengers and launch an arrow into the crowd. When you do clownery, the clown comes break to bite.”

https://twitter.com/Yoonmin_beech/status/1266903184825561088

Another user commented, “Hawkeye stay useless.”

Twitter users also blasted McCormick for his use of the slogan “All Lives Matter,” which is largely seen as a term used to discredit and undermine the slogan “Black Lives Matter.” The latter slogan was devised by activists to elevate the visibility of Black people whose lives were claimed by unjust police killings and to convey the message that it is wrong to dehumanize and kill them.

In one Twitter post, user @PizzaPartyThe60 highlighted the irony of the situation, writing:

“He said ‘All Lives Matter’ and then proceeded to try to take a life.

“How on brand.”