Birds of a Feather

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Doug Gillespie stands by pictures of Jerad Miller and Amanda Miller during a news conference Monday, June 9, 2014 in Las Vegas. Police say two police officers, along w... Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Doug Gillespie stands by pictures of Jerad Miller and Amanda Miller during a news conference Monday, June 9, 2014 in Las Vegas. Police say two police officers, along with a bystander, were killed by Jerad and Amanda Miller yesterday. (AP Photo/John Locher) MORE LESS
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Both weird and chilling. It seems the couple who killed the police officers in Las Vegas yesterday and the “sovereign citizen” guy who tried to storm a courthouse in Cumming, Georgia on Friday had the same plan: to take over a courthouse and start executing public officials or (possibly in the Georgia case) holding them hostage.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, a next door neighbor of the couple was in possession of a package of their documents detailing plans for a courthouse siege.

The next-door neighbor and friend of Jerad and Amanda Miller was holding documents for for the couple that included detailed plans to take over a courthouse and execute public officials.

The file box full of documents, along with three empty rifle cases and an empty box for handcuffs, were confiscated by investigators during a search of Kelley Fielder’s apartment at 110 South Bruce St.

Fielder lived next door to the Millers and called them her “best friends.” She said she didn’t know they were “that crazy.”

It’s not totally clear from the article whether Fielder knew what was included in the documents. But it seems a bit unclear to me why Fielder isn’t in some legal jeopardy herself.

Equally unclear is why the Millers started their spree by executing police officers in a pizza shop if their plan was to storm and takeover a courthouse. Perhaps that plan was simply abandoned. But they came carrying lots of weapons and seemingly materials for a siege of some sort.

Also notable is that, according the LVRJ, the couple left their apartment at 4:30 AM Sunday morning “telling neighbors they planned to murder cops.” Again, no one thought to alert the authorities? Obviously maybe someone thinks they’re joking or they’re scared or something else. But though the point isn’t made explicitly in the LVRJ piece, it seems like a lot of people around the Millers knew not just that they were potentially dangerous or nuts but that they were actively planning or in the midst of perpetrating a major terrorist attack.

As I noted at the top, Dennis Marx seems to have had the same basic plan. He came to the Cumming, Georgia with guns, smoke bombs, explosives, snap-tie handcuffs for handling hostages.

There’s zero evidence that these two incidents were connected. And I’d be shocked if any surfaced. But the worldview is a shared one – as is the fever dream focus on public authorities and law enforcement as the tip of the spear of the domestic fascist takeover.

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