A Multnomah County grand jury returned a 21-count indictment today against Michael Strickland, the 36-year-old right wing videographer who pulled a gun out and waved it at protesters at a Don't Shoot PDX and Black Lives Matter protest last month.
Strickland was arrested on July 7 and charged a day later with two counts of unlawful use of a firearm, menacing, and second degree disorderly conduct.
The grand jury returned today with 21 counts against him. This includes 10 counts "unlawful use of a weapon with a firearm," ten counts of menacing, and one count of second degree disorderly conduct. He posted 10 percent of his $250,000 bail ($25,000) two weeks ago and was released pending trial.
Here's how we described Stickland in our news story about the gun-pulling in July:
Strickland, a poor man’s James O’Keefe, is a known entity around Portland-area protest circles. He goes to local “liberal” events, video records them, often selectively edits them while doing a voiceover, and then uploads them to his YouTube channel “Laughing at Liberals” or sells them to conservative video-hosting site vidmax.com.
“LAL is the most complete, comprehensive, and accurate source of political news in Oregon,” he boasted on Twitter last month.
Strickland recently drew ire for showing up in June to a vigil in Portland the day after the terrorist attack inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, and making fun of a transgender person who was there to mourn the 49 people shot to death.
Some of his recent videos are titled AIDS Triggly Puff Appears at Trump Protest, Vietnamese Transgender Student’s Crazy Rant, Wackjob Commies CRASH “Students for Trump” Meeting, and a sarcastic Muh Reparations from Muh Oppressors! He seemed to obsessively latch onto Portland Community College’s “Whiteness History Month” in April.
He’s also, obviously, a gun advocate, having previously run something called the “Second Amendment Action Center.”
The 10 menacing counts ("unlawfully and intentionally attempt to place another person... in fear of imminent serious physical injury") and 10 unlawful use of a weapon counts ("unlawfully attempt to use, carry, with intent to to use and possess with intent to use unlawfully against another person... a firearm") are for crimes he's accused of committing against 10 different people he waved his gun at. Here's how the indictment describes these 10 people:
•"... a balding male wearing a black shirt and dark pants..."
•"... a male wearing a black hooded top and dark pants with a blue backpack..."
•"... a male with dark hair, black shirt, and tan pants wearing a scarf around his neck..."
•"... a male with a large video camera and backpack with the words LiveU on the back..."
•"... a female with a black top, black skirt, and black cloth over her mouth..."
•"... a male with a green top, dark backpack, and white mask on his face..."
•"... a male wearing jeans, a dark top, a backpack, a green cloth on this face, and a multicolor mask on top of his face..."
•"... a male wearing tan pants, a blue jacket, and a red shirt, holding an orange bottle..."
•"... a female with dark hair, black top, and black pants..."
•"... a male wearing a blue hooded top, dark pants, and a black messenger bag..."
The grand jury interviewed 18 people before handing down the indictment. The list includes three police officers, two local journalists, and a handful of protesters. Strickland is scheduled for a settlement hearing on Oct. 13. Read the indictment here:
