Suspected: Birther shoots two law enforcement officers

Update (2/7/2015):

Cole is now facing federal charges in the shooting incident. The state charges have been dismissed.


 

Authorities, according to The Modesto Bee and other sources,  have identified the man who is suspected of shooting a California Highway Patrol officer and a Bureau of Land Management ranger at a Nevada County, California, campground last Saturday, as Brent Douglas Cole. Cole, 60, was himself wounded in the confrontation and is in stable condition.

In any shooting incident, the first question that comes to mind is: Is the suspect a birther? Evidence is mounting that he is a birther. Check out this August 2012 Tweet:

Cole was also a commenter on Mike Volin’s Sheriff’s Kits go to Washington Facebook page.

image

Cole was previously charged (State of California -vs- Brent Douglas Cole Case Number M-14-0000388) for carrying a loaded firearm on his person and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle (charges which he disputes). He has a pre-trial conference scheduled for June 30.

Cole was also a supporter of Operation Mutual Aid, a loose association of militia groups involved in the Cliven Bundy Ranch standoff. Some of the Facebook groups Cole belongs to include:

See also:


Is this all the same Brent Douglas Cole?

It’s with some caution that I link two individuals together online. Let me explain my evidence here.

We start with the Modesto Bee report giving the full name of the Nevada County shooting suspect as “Brent Douglas Cole.” A commenter here suggested the Twitter account, @stat_ag which also has the title “Brent Douglas Cole.”  I found the birther comment (shown above) in that Twitter account, but I also found that Twitter Cole gave a hyperlink to his Facebook account. Facebook Cole (named “Brent Cole”) posted on Mike Volin’s page, supported Operation Mutual Aid and linked to birther videos (see image in article above). Facebook Cole posted a link to a Google Drive folder that has documents related to his arrest in Nevada County, California, on weapons charges. I was able to find the case in  Nevada County Courts search results (“Brent D. Cole”). Starting with Nevada County and finding Nevada County at the end of the chain is the confirmation I needed to warrant supporting the content of the article concluding that the shooting suspect is a birther.

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
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54 Responses to Suspected: Birther shoots two law enforcement officers

  1. Egipcios says:

    Another “Sovereign” shooting this weekend is not being widely reported for some reason.

    “Brent Douglas Cole” targeted BLM agents in CA on Saturday.

    http://www.modbee.com/2014/06/16/3393718/nevada-county-sheriff-identifies.html

    He has a fairly rich electron trail of anti-government, anti-Semite and general right wing nutbaggery.

    For example:

    https://twitter.com/stat_ag

    https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9c7b8lj10BWYlo2VUVXNWRvQ1U&usp=sharing

    It is not yet known if he was a participant in the Bundy Ranch standoff.

  2. Arthur says:

    So in the past couple of weeks, three people killed in Nevada by birthers and two people shot and wounded by another birther in California. Chickens are coming home to roost.

  3. Thanks for the tip!

    Egipcios: Another “Sovereign” shooting this weekend is not being widely reported for some reason.

  4. This article introduces a new Blog Category: Birthers Behaving Badly, which refers to birthers engaging in criminal acts.

  5. Curious George says:

    At some point, doesn’t Birther Report and Reichs Fuehrer Zullo bear some responsibility?

  6. Bonsall Obot says:

    Curious George:
    At some point, doesn’t Birther Report and Reichs Fuehrer Zullo bear some responsibility?

    Why?? They’re JUST ASKING QUESTIONS.

  7. The Magic M says:

    Curious George: At some point, doesn’t Birther Report and Reichs Fuehrer Zullo bear some responsibility?

    At least that’s partly what they’ve always wanted, that somebody (“just not me”) eventually goes and “waters the tree of liberty”. Maybe not Zullo as I haven’t seen him demand any violent action, not even indirectly, but Birther Report (both owner and crowd) definitely.

  8. Egipcios says:

    The fact that this incident is so completely under the radar so far as the press and law enforcement are concerned, leads one to suspect the existence of many more shootings done by “Sovereigns” that are never reported as such.

  9. If you look at the Facebook groups that Cole belonged to, I think that birtherism wasn’t his primary motivation.

    Curious George: At some point, doesn’t Birther Report and Reichs Fuehrer Zullo bear some responsibility?

  10. It could well be. The officers were not seriously hurt and the incident was not in a heavily populated area. Minor story.

    Here’s another sovereign shooting this year in Ohio:

    http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2014/03/28/sovereign-citizen-with-history-of-bogus-lawsuits-shot-dead-by-ohio-deputies/

    and one in Georgia:

    http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/georgia-courthouse-sovereign.html

    Egipcios:
    The fact that this incident is so completely under the radar so far as the press and law enforcement are concerned, leads one to suspect the existence of many more shootings done by “Sovereigns” that are never reported as such.

  11. JPotter says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: Minor story.

    Unfortunately true, in a country overloaded in gun violence. No details on lead up to “altercation” says Modesto Bee. Hmmm.

  12. Bonsall Obot says:

    JPotter:

    No details on lead up to “altercation” says Modesto Bee. Hmmm.

    The lead up started on 1/20/09, at the WHITE House. It can all be traced back to that.

  13. OllieOxenFree says:

    Curious George: At some point, doesn’t Birther Report and Reichs Fuehrer Zullo bear some responsibility?

    Actually in the twisted moebius strip of logic that is the birther universe, all of this could have been avoided if Obama had just released his records. The blood of anyone killed by a birther is directly on the hands of the President and he should be tried and convicted of those murders as if it were he who pulled the trigger.

    Oh… and the NRA does not like the media to use the word “shooting” anymore, when reporting gun violence. Apparently they believe that a murder is a murder no matter how it is committed and how the murder is actually carried out is a trivial matter and should not be reported.

    To quote a NRA spokesman, “Evil is the problem, the tool is irrelevant.”

    You will of course want to amend your article to reflect this new sentiment, Doc.

  14. Just as an example of how hard associations are to make on the Internet, I was researching another shooter, Aaron Ybarra, and found no fewer than 7 Twitter accounts under that name, and probably none of them the shooter.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seattle-shooting-suspect-makes-first-court-appearance/

  15. I am looking at Nevada cop killers Jared and Amanda Miller, who were at the Bundy Ranch. Here is Amanda Miller’s YouTube channel:

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfK1UVZHD5MExf6SP1JjUpA

  16. Bored Onlooker says:

    Probably the same Brent Douglas Cole:

    http://www.opednews.com/author/author1870.html

    “A sovereign American Citizen attempting to thwart the obvious conspiracy and subterfuges of powers inimical to the United States.

    Statutory Attorney General of the United States

    (See 18 U.S.C. Secs 1961 et seq., and Rotella v Wood, U.S. Tex 2000.

    Brent D. Cole

    Fiat justitia, ruat caelum.”

  17. Rickey says:

    It looks like he embraces every conspiracy theory he comes across.

    http://unitedtruthseekers.com/profile/BrentDouglasCole

  18. mimi says:

    If you can’t see the facebook, he prolly shares the same stuff on Google+

    https://plus.google.com/+BrentCole/posts

  19. mimi says:

    “Facebook Cole posted a link to a Google Drive folder that has documents related to his arrest in Nevada County, California, on weapons charges. ”

    I clicked on the link Doc embedded in that sentence. whew. Total SovCit nutbag.

  20. mimi says:

    He refers to himself in the SovCit coded name. brent-douglas: cole

    That will save him.

  21. Tomtech says:

    Bonsall Obot: Why?? They’re JUST ASKING QUESTIONS.

    Asking questions has a more powerful effect. If they ask a question the viewer or listener decides for themselves what the answer is while reporting an item leads to skepticism.

  22. mimi says:

    TPM picked up the story:

    A Bureau of Land Management ranger and a California highway patrolman were shot during an armed confrontation on Saturday, the Sacramento Bee reported.

    Authorities identified the suspect as Brent Douglas Cole, 60, according to the Bee. The shooting took place in the Tahoe National Forest in Nevada County, Calif., which borders Nevada. The BLM ranger had called for the highway patrolman’s assistance, according to the Bee.”

    more:
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/blm-shooting-nevada-county-california

  23. JPotter says:

    Bonsall Obot: The lead up started on 1/20/09, at the WHITE House. It can all be traced back to that.

    Overly simplistic Bonsall. Hateful wingnuttery has been actively groomed in this country for decades in its modern form, centuries in similar forms (different particulars, same thought modes). Hate, spite, cynicism, selfishness, paranoia, are always with us…and many are given over to negativity and destruction.

  24. Puesto says:

    There is this Brent Douglas Cole, Alaska. Petitioning US Supreme Court related to weapons charges
    https://sites.google.com/site/seekingredress/home/petition_for_redress

  25. Bob says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    If you look at the Facebook groups that Cole belonged to, I think that birtherism wasn’t his primary motivation.

    Only because Birtherism is a losing proposition for Birthers.

  26. mimi says:

    Puesto:
    There is this Brent Douglas Cole, Alaska. Petitioning US Supreme Court related to weapons charges
    https://sites.google.com/site/seekingredress/home/petition_for_redress

    Those aren’t all about Brent Cole.

    A bunch of those documents relate to his son, Trevor M. Cole.

    If it’s the same guy, I think he may be in the pokey now. Name and age would be consistent, so it sounds like the same guy.

    http://homertribune.com/2013/12/anchor-point-man-arrested-for-arson/

    The docs in that folder aren’t the December 2013 incident though. They’re about stuff from 15 years ago.

    And then there are documents relating to another guy. I guess Cole was helping him write them.

  27. VeniVidiVici says:

    Lots of leftwingnuts killing people too. Crazy is an equal opportunity employer. America has become so polarized that, as an example, birthers and obots are reduced to ad hominem until something “shatters” the status quo. 😉

  28. Suranis says:

    Ok. Name a few.

  29. mimi says:

    mimi: Those aren’t all about Brent Cole.

    A bunch of those documents relate to his son, [Name redacted. Doc.].

    If it’s the same guy, I think he may be in the pokey now. Name and age would be consistent, so it sounds like the same guy.

    http://homertribune.com/2013/12/anchor-point-man-arrested-for-arson/

    The docs in that folder aren’t the December 2013 incident though. They’re about stuff from 15 years ago.

    And then there are documents relating to another guy.I guess Cole was helping himwrite them.

    Idunno if this is the same guy. Same state, different town.

  30. BillTheCat says:

    VeniVidiVici:
    Lots of leftwingnuts killing people too.Crazy is an equal opportunity employer.America has become so polarized that, as an example, birthers and obots are reduced to ad hominem until something “shatters” the status quo.

    Nope. Keep grabbing them straws though.

  31. We had the Weather Underground in the 1970’s. I thought that there were some deaths from radical environmentalist tree spiking, but apparently not (just one serious injury from what may have been a tree spike). There were two murders by the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970’s. Black Panther Huey Newton was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a policeman in 1967, but the conviction was later overturned.

    I’m having a hard time coming with any contemporary American left-wing nut job killers.

    Suranis: Ok. Name a few.

  32. Egipcios says:

    I don’t know if it played in this incident, but one of the latest memes to emerge from these guys is “the BLM is not law enforcement”. Harry Riley ( of OAS fame) told me that the BLM is a foreign corporation with headquarters in Puerto Rico.

    (I hope it is unnecessary to say, but the BLM is most definitely a Federal Law Enforcement agency according to law enacted by Congress under the Constitution, same as the Coast Guard.)

    More than one of the Bundy Militia guys has told me words to the effect that they were not actually pointing weapons at law enforcement, because the BLM is not law enforcement, or the BLM is not entitled to carry guns. Apparently they intend to use this meme in their defense, when or if they ever face legal consequences for their actions.

  33. Thinker says:

    Egipcios: I think you’re off on something there. The BLM is not a law enforcement agency. Its primary purpose is to manage a subset of land and natural resources owned by the federal government. It has a law enforcement component. It has a team of uniformed Rangers and plain-clothes investigators, but that’s a very small part of the agency. The wingnut meme I heard was people claiming that BLM was not a government agency, but a privately owned corporation. I saw this being spread by the execrable Pete Santilli. Here’s the Birther Report link that includes the reference I saw. http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/04/alert-obama-ineligibility-attorney.html

  34. VeniVidiVici says:

    Sheriff Joe is about to release the evidence.

    Any, Day, Now.

    Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

  35. VeniVidiVici says:

    I won’t be back to this blog any more.

  36. Thinker says:

    Thanks VVV. I freely acknowledge I’ve been warned. 🙂

  37. Egipcios says:

    Thinker: Egipcios: I think you’re off on something there. The BLM is not a law enforcement agency.

    “The BLM Office of Law Enforcement & Security, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. government. All Law Enforcement Rangers and Special Agents receive their training through Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Law Enforcement Rangers attend the Land Management Police Training (LMPT) academy at FLTEC, while BLM Special Agents attend the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) at FLETC”

    http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/law_enforcement/blm_rangers.html

    http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/law_enforcement.html

    “BLM Rangers are uniformed officers who provide a regular and recurring presence over vast areas of public lands. They are responsible for conducting high visibility patrols; conducting public contacts; enforcing federal laws and regulations; assisting local county or city police departments, other federal and state land management agencies, and BLM Special Agents investigating illegal activity on public lands; and generally providing for the safety of BLM employees and public land users.”

    “BLM Special Agents are plain clothes officers that do not normally wear the BLM law enforcement uniform. BLM Special Agents conduct search warrants and arrest warrants for individuals or businesses that conduct illegal activity on public lands. BLM Special Agents also provide a working liaison with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, other federal and state law enforcement agencies, and assist BLM Law Enforcement Rangers investigating illegal activity on public lands.”

    “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Land_Management#Law_enforcement_and_security”

  38. Thinker says:

    This is a reference to the Office of Law Enforcement and Security, which is part of the BLM. It is not a reference to the entire agency. Many federal agencies have a law enforcement component. The National Park Service does. So do the Forest Service and the State Department, but they are not law enforcement agencies per se.

    Here’s an org chart for the agency. http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Business_and_Fiscal_Resources.Par.33189.File.dat/blm_org_chart.pdf

    Egipcios: “The BLM Office of Law Enforcement & Security, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. government.”

  39. JPotter says:

    VeniVidiVici:
    I won’t be back to this blog any more under the nom de plume VeniVidiVici.

    FIFY

  40. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    VeniVidiVici:
    I won’t be back to this blog any more.

    Let the door hit you on the way out. The door loves doing that!

  41. Egipcios says:

    Thinker: Here’s an org chart for the agency

    So that proves the Bundy Militia were not actually pointing weapons at law enforcement? I suppose that having talked so much with “Sovereigns” lately, I have become allergic to overblown hair splitting distinctions based upon insignificant differences in wording or punctuation. The original discussion had to do with claims that the Bundy Militia was not actually pointing weapons at “Law Enforcement” because “BLM is not law enforcement” .

    It would appear to me that the BLM agents at Bundy were partly or substantially “BLM Rangers”. But I do not know that for sure. Are you saying the BLM at Bundy were not from the enforcement division, or that they were carrying weapons illegally?

    I also have assumed that the BLM person (presumably a BLM Ranger, or BLM Agent) in California Saturday might have had a weapon since they were in a gunfight. And I also presumed that a Ranger carrying a weapon would be from the law enforcement division of BLM. But assumptions are dangerous.

    As for the chart, the Law Enforcement Division is the box on the top left. And there is nothing on the chart that cannot be tied to the execution or enforcement of laws and statues.

    I was surprised to find that the MAJORITY of employees in my local police department are NOT ACTUALLY “Law Enforcement”. They have a large investigative department, dispatchers, clerical workers, child psychologists, janitorial crews, cooks for the jail, groundskeepers, a maintenance department, and a department dealing exclusively with issues related to escaped livestock, etc. Furthermore, on the home page of their website, they say “Our Primary Mission is Community Service”.

    So the local PD is not primarily a law enforcement agency!

    Based on this info, I will tell the cop that he is not really law enforcement next time he tries to ticket me. (See, I can do Sovereign-Think too!)

  42. Rickey says:

    VeniVidiVici:
    Sheriff Joe is about to release the evidence.

    Any, Day, Now.

    Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

    Damn, now I won’t be able to sleep.

  43. aarrgghh says:

    g’bye cruel blog
    and heed my vow
    you’ll be sorry
    any day now
    burma shave

  44. Jen says:

    To be fair, I think this guy was an equal-opportunity wingnut. He’s also got posts claiming Bush is not a citizen. He’s anti-gmo, anti-nuke, pro-occupy, pro-pot (very similar to Jerad Miller, even). He loves Alex Jones and is obsessed with chemtrails and flouride.

    Aside from some vague libertarian posts the guy doesn’t seem to have any political affiliation other than conspiratard. He’s not left or right, he’s just insane.

  45. The Magic M says:

    VeniVidiVici: Sheriff Joe is about to release the evidence.

    Any, Day, Now.

    He’s been anydaynowing since March. Of 2013. Don’t hold your breath. No, on second thought, please do. 😉

  46. The Magic M says:

    OllieOxenFree: Apparently they believe that a murder is a murder no matter how it is committed and how the murder is actually carried out is a trivial matter and should not be reported.

    To quote a NRA spokesman, “Evil is the problem, the tool is irrelevant.”

    So we’re all weapon racists now?

  47. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    VeniVidiVici:
    Sheriff Joe is about to release the evidence.

    Any, Day, Now.

    Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

    define any day now they’ve been saying this for over two years the only thing they released was fabricated.

  48. gorefan says:

    VeniVidiVici:
    Sheriff Joe is about to release the evidence.

    Any, Day, Now.

    Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

    You obviously haven’t read the Phoneix New Times article.

  49. Curious George says:

    VeniVidVici,
    “I won’t be back to this blog any more.”

    VVV, here’s a little going away present. Notice at the beginning of the song, it mentions your name. See if you can pick it out. 🙂

    http://vimeo.com/m/31680681

  50. JPotter says:

    Jen: Aside from some vague libertarian posts the guy doesn’t seem to have any political affiliation other than conspiratard. He’s not left or right, he’s just insane.

    In short, a dime-a-dozen wise fool. Their brain leakage greases the wheels of the interwebs.

  51. Pip says:

    You would think someone using the name VeniVidiVici would avoid such statements. VeniVidiFugerunt?

    VeniVidiVici:
    I won’t be back to this blog any more.

  52. Bonsall Obot says:

    “I came, I saw, I was driven away by ridicule and facts.”

  53. Jen says:

    JPotter: In short, a dime-a-dozen wise fool. Their brain leakage greases the wheels of the interwebs.

    Haha, exactly. I’ve run into so many of these types. I have a relative with similar views. All of these people seem to be clinically depressed, and their apocalyptic worldviews are all so similar.

    I was struck by the parallels between this guy and Jerad Miller. Both of them had been in legal trouble, both blamed “oppressive” government for their problems. Both of them were obsessed with chemtrails, flouride, GMOs, etc. Both sympathized with the Bundy ranch & the occupy movement.

    I’m not sure where I’m going with this train of thought but it does make me wonder how much the internet might be exacerbating the problems of people like this.

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