'Ready for Civil War': Illinois Man Arrested With Bombs Posted Right-Wing Content

[Nevilledog]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/illinois-man-arrest-bomb-ready-for-civil-war-1235027015/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/Qgpry

Just after 3 a.m. last Friday, in a small Central Illinois city infamous in the area for being a former sundowner town, a Pekin police officer pulled over a car for a traffic violation, according to an affidavit. Dalton Mattus, 34, was a passenger inside the vehicle, and police say they found a canvas bag under his seat locked with a padlock. When an officer asked what was in the bag, Mattus reportedly said the officer would have to get a warrant to find out. Police took the bag and let Mattus go, then obtained a warrant from a judge and opened the bag inside city hall. There, they found a .45 caliber pistol and two homemade pipe bombs rigged with BBs, evacuated the building, and called in a bomb squad from neighboring Peoria, according to local reports.

Mattus was charged with being a felon in possession of a weapon — his felony stems from a 2018 theft conviction. Police then went to his home and engaged in a brief standoff before arresting Mattus, according to local media. There, police say, they found three more pipe bombs. Authorities haven’t said what they believed Mattus planned to do with the bombs, but he allegedly told police that he had made them for protection from “undocumented immigrants and a corrupt government,” a local radio station reported. Police told a local TV station that “the general public was not at threat.”

Rolling Stone and American Doom analyzed more than 200 of Mattus’ social media posts going back to 2016. Starting around June 2020, Mattus’ posts suggest he was sucked into the dregs of the far-right internet, where he voraciously consumed and posted about conspiracies and anti-government vitriol.

Among the hundreds of posts Mattus shared over the past several years were his willingness to “go to civil war,” and his support for conspiracy theories ranging from chemtrails, to QAnon, to election lies, and sweeping anti-government conspiracies. In March 2023, Mattus changed his profile picture to an upside-down American flag with the phrase, “We are not OK.”

*snip*

[GenThePerservering]

1. No, HE'S not OK

what a chud.

[Arne]

3. Good use of that word

I had to look it up.

[wolfie001]

2. MF'er should get at least 20 years........................nt

[Warpy]

8. Since he's already got an unspecified felony conviction in his past

he'll probably get at least that. I hope so.

He certainly looks the part.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. Another anti-social nutbag that obviously votes Trump.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. My partner's home town

Yes, it’s a former sundown town,.

The high school mascot use to be the “Pekin Chink” get it? Peking.

Of course, my trumpanzee sister-in-law protested the name change back the day she also attends anti mask rallies and organizes trump trains on the highway.

[William769]

6. Oy.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. Studied with Alito, eh?