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Alton Edmon took to social media to claim that the firing was due to his choice to wear a Black Lives Matter tie to the Brevard County publicdefenders office.

It is accurate to say he was fired. But it was an accumulation of things the tie had no significance in his firing,his boss tried to explain. People can talk about politics, of course. But theres a big difference about talking politics and wearing politics on your tie.

This was my way of representing a struggle. Its very personal to me,Edmond claimed in return.

Its upsetting to know that even people supposed to protect the law tend to misunderstand the basic ideas of the movement. A real public defense attorney should be proud to have an assistant wearing a Black Lives Matter tie as a symbol of promoting justice.

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Black Lives Matter Tie Costs A. Edmond His Job - blackmattersus.com (blog)

MINNEAPOLIS - A jury on Wednesday convicted a Minnesota man of assault for opening fire and wounding five mendemonstrating against the fatal shooting of a black man by Minneapolis police officers.

Allen Scarsella, 24, of Bloomington, was found guilty on all charges of assault and riot. Scarsella showed no emotion as the Hennepin County jurys verdict was read.CBS Minnesota reports that the jury deliberated for seven hours.

Scarsella was accused of shooting and injuring the five African-American men at a Black Lives Matter protest after the police shootingdeath of Jamar Clark in 2015.

Scarsella and three other men, all wearing face masks, went into an encampment outside a police station in north Minneapolis to livestream Black Lives Matter protests that had closed down a city block. Scarsella, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, brought a .45-caliber handgun and fired at demonstrators in what his attorneys say was self-defense.

CBS Minnesota reports that jurors saw numerous text messages Scarsella sent friends, including one saying, Cool the gun Im getting is proven to kill black guys in a single shot.

Prosecutors argued that the shootings were racially-motivated. The station reports that Scarsella was identified in a video taken the night of the shootings waving a handgun and making racially-charged statements about the Black Lives Matter protesters. In one video that was shot in a car while Scarsella and a friend were driving to an earlier protest, Scarsella is heard saying he is on a mission and locked and loaded while holding a gun.

Prosecutors accused the men of being white supremacists and trying to disrupt the protest. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said his office will seek the stiffest possible sentence for Scarsella. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 10 and could face up to 19 years in prison.

Scarsella, who is white, testified he was afraid of being attacked while filming the protest on the night of Nov. 23, 2015. He said a group of protesters accused him of being in the Ku Klux Klan and that someone had already punched him in the face. Scarsella said he and his friends tried to leave the protest but a group of men followed them and one pulled out what appeared to be a weapon, prompting Scarsella to open fire.

Only one of the five victims attended the trial. Cameron Clark, 26, Jamar Clarks cousin, was shot by Scarsella in the right leg. Clark said he remembers Scarsella provoking protesters with racial slurs and luring a group of black men up the street where he turned and shot at them.

Clark attended parts of Scarsellas testimony and said he had butterflies in his stomach before the verdict was read Wednesday afternoon.

I was kind of really thinking that (the jurors) were going to be on his side and they were going to let him go because he was claiming self-defense, Clark said afterward.

Clark and another victim - Tevin King - sustained bullet wounds near major arteries. Hennepin County Assistant Attorney Judith Hawley said King was shot in the abdomen and that the bullet is too close to his arteries to be removed. Injuries ranged from leg, arm and foot to stomach and back wounds.

The three other Minnesota men with Scarsella at the time - Daniel Macey of Pine City, Nathan Gustavsson of Hermantown and Joseph Backman of Eagan - are charged with second-degree riot and aiding an offender. All three have pleaded not guilty and await trial. In December, attorneys for the three men denied that their clients are racist. Macey is Asian, the others are white.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Minnesota man who shot 5 Black Lives Matter protesters found guilty - CBS News

A jury convicted Allen Scarsella on Feb. 1, 2017, of assault for opening fire and wounding five men demonstrating against the fatal shooting of a black man by Minneapolis police officersHennepin County Jail/AP

A jury on Wednesday convicted a Minnesota man of shooting five Black Lives Matter protesters in 2015, the Associated Press reports.

Allen Scarsella, of Bloomington, was found guilty of all charges, which ranged from assault to rioting. The 24-year-old was accused of shooting and injuring five black men who were protesting against the death of Jamar Clark , another black man who was killed by a police officer in 2015, according to AP.

Prosecutors argued that Scarsellas shootings were racially motivated. He and three other men were arrested after the incident, according to WCCO, a local CBS affiliate.

A video from the night of the shootings showed Scarsella waiving a gun and making racially charged statements about the protesters, WCCO reported. Other evidence included text messages saying Scarsella wanted to shoot black people and a second video in which he said he was on a mission and locked and loaded.

His sentencing will take place March 10, and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman told WCCO that Scarsella could face up to 19 years in prison.

Mr. Scarsellas conduct was truly outrageous, Freeman said. Racist language, his conduct is simply not acceptable.

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Minnesota Man Allen Scarsella Found Guilty of Shooting Black Lives Matter Protesters - TIME

by: Ty Russell Updated: Feb 2, 2017 - 11:24 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. - Community activists are hoping to see hundreds of people show up for a Black Lives Matter protest march in downtown Orlando Friday.

Some people on the other side of the issue, though, already have.

The Orange County Sheriffs Office is investigating a possible hate crime after organizer Stetia Allen reported someone had slashed her tires and left a racist note on her car.

Its disgusting, she said. Its absolutely disgusting that people are still hateful.

Allen isnt going to let the incident affect her plans to march Friday.

The march will go from Lake Eola to Callahan Park before heading toward the Orlando Police Department and then back to Lake Eola.

One of the big motivations for the march is the dramatic increase in homicides in the Pine Hills neighborhood, Allen said.

Pine Hills is a beautiful neighborhood, she said. I dont understand why our security cant be through our community.

Change, Allen said, starts at home.

We can patrol our streets as a community, she said. We can work with the police force.

I love my community and my community has always taken care of me.

The march is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

2017 Cox Media Group.

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Activists face backlash after announcing Friday's Black Lives Matter march in Orlando - WFTV Orlando

Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 6:11 a.m.

A surprise witness was identified in Superior Court on Tuesday in the case of theLos Angeles Police Commission president who filed a temporary restraining order againsta prominent member of Black Lives Matter L.A. The witness is fellow L.A. police commissioner Cynthia McClain-Hill, who will offer a rebuttal at a later date to key allegations made in the complaint filed by her colleague, board president Matt M. Johnson.

Johnson filed the request for a temporary restraining order in December against Trevor Gerard,a Black Lives Mattermemberidentified in court filings by his given name of Trevor Ferguson.In the complaint, Johnson accuses Gerard of stalking him at his home in Sherman Oaks and at the entertainment law firm where he works in Century City. Johnson states in the complaint that he feared for his life and the safety of his family.

Gerard, 35, denies the allegations and says that the statements and actions attributed to him in the complaint fail to mention they were part of group protests outside Johnson's home and inside his place of work.

According to to Nana Gyamfi, the attorney representing Gerard in court,McClain-Hill will testify about another allegation made in the complaint: thatGerard mouthed violent threats to Johnson from the audience at board meetings and made threatening statements, including a gratuitous reference to Johnsons children.

Gyamfi told L.A. Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson at the Tuesday hearing that McClain-Hill "will testify that Mr. Ferguson has not mouthed threats, that she has not seen Mr. Ferguson mouth threats to Mr. Johnson or make any threats verbally or audibly,

Judge Boas Goodson asked if McClain-Hill, as a witness, was in a position to see any such threats.

Yes, she was at the same dais to see that. It would be like someone sitting next to you up there, Gyamfi said.

McClain-Hill did not respond to requests for comment. Johnson, who was present at the hearing on Tuesday, left the courtroom immediately after it concluded and did not take questions.

Protester Trevor Gerard at a Black Lives Matter encampment in front of Los Angeles City Hall

Sam Slovick

Frank T. Mateljan III, deputy communications director forthe L.A. City Attorney's Office,which is representing Johnson in the complaint, told L.A. Weekly in an email that Hugo S. Rossitter, the deputy city attorney on the case, was not informed until the hearing that McClain-Hill had been subpoenaed to testify. Mateljan said the unexpected development was a factor in Rossitter's request for continuance. All the protective provisions of the temporary restraining order remain in effect, he said.

McClain-Hill is one of two black police commissioners on the five-person civilian oversight board; Johnson is the other. Both were appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti Johnson as the board president in 2015, McClain-Hill as commissioner last year. The Police Commission is charged with overseeing the LAPD, setting policy and determining whether police use of force was justified.

Gerard frequently attended commission meetings and spoke during the public comment time, often addressing Johnson directly, even abrasively. Johnson ordered Gerard removed from a Police Commission meeting in October.

McClain-Hill has drawn the ire ofthe L.A. Police Protective League, the union representing police officers. TheLAPPL criticized McClain-Hill in an open letter to Mayor Garcetti and City Council president Herb Wesson in October, stating the police commissioner was not "an objective member of the Commission focused on improving the L.A. Police Department."

The police union letter refers to McClain-Hill's meeting with the publicin the aftermath of a raucous Police Commission meeting on Oct. 4. Johnson had publicly adjourned the meeting, citing repeated disruptions by members of the audience. "Rather than joining her fellow Commissioners after the public adjournment," the letter states, "Ms. McClain-Hill stayed with the group responsible for shutting down the public meeting and encouraged their anti-democratic behavior."

Los Angeles Police Commissioner Matthew M. Johnson

CBS Los Angeles

The Times described McClain-Hill's interaction with the public as follows:

McClain-Hill said that the audience needs to trust that the commission is making an effort to increase transparency. The LAPD, she said, has lost the trust of the community.

A month before that meeting, in September, McClain-Hill issued a directive to the LAPD, backed by a unanimous vote of the commissioners, for a deep analysisof how the department handles complaints that allege racial profiling.

The provisions of Johnson's temporary restraining order calls for Gerard to stay at least 100 yards away from Johnson, Johnsons wife and children, and his home and the law firm where he works. Additionally, it requires Gerard to stay at least five yards away from Johnson during public meetings, though it specifies he may still address the Board of Police Commissioners during the public comment time.

Gyamfi, Gerard's lawyer, said after the Tuesday hearing that the restraining order was part of an effort to intimidate members of Black Lives Matter L.A. and "to bully Trevor into not embarrassing and angering Matt Johnson."

The next hearing will take place at L.A. Superior Court on March 1.

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A Surprise Witness Steps Forward in Case of Black Lives Matter Activist - L.A. Weekly