A former Canadian reservist arrested in the United States last week had recorded a video calling for “violent revolution,” according to a transcript released Tuesday.
The video was among several featuring Patrik Jordan Mathews found by police during a covert search of his Delaware hideout last December.
Wearing a gas mask to disguise his voice, Mathews allegedly spoke about fleeing to the U.S. after his involvement in right-wing extremism became publicly known.
He also espoused racism, violence and anti-Semitism in the videos, prosecutors alleged.
“The time for talk has ended,” he said in one of the videos, according to a transcript filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland to bolster his continued detention while he awaits trial.
“Derail some f–king trains, kill some people, and poison some water,” he said. “If you want the white race to survive, you’re going to have to do your f–king part.
“This is the age of war.”
A Winnipeg neo-Nazi who served in the Canadian Armed Forces reserves, Mathews was arrested last Thursday, along with two other alleged members of the far-right group The Base. Police had been looking for him since he disappeared on Aug. 24.
His vehicle was found near the U.S. border, suggesting he had fled the country after being drummed out of the reserves over his involvement in a hate group.
U.S. authorities have charged him with transporting a firearm with the intent to commit a felony and “being an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition.” He faces up to 20 years if convicted.
On Tuesday, in a motion arguing Mathews should be detained pending his trial, U.S. prosecutors disclosed new information about the FBI investigation leading to his arrest.
The motion alleged that Mathews and co-accused Brian Mark Lemley had discussed ambushing civilians and police at a Jan. 20 gun-rights rally in Richmond, Virginia.
“I literally need, I need to claim my first victim,” Lemley said, according to the court motion.
“If there’s like a PoPo cruiser parked on the street and he doesn’t have backup, I can execute him at a whim and just take his stuff … He literally has zero chance of not being ganked.”
“We could essentially like be literally hunting people,” Mathews allegedly stated. “We can’t let Virginia go to waste, we just can’t.”
Prosecutors also disclosed that videos recorded by Mathews were found when investigators, on the strength of a “sneek-and-peak warrant,” conducted a surreptitious search of his residence in December 2019.
That same month, police installed a closed-circuit television camera in the residence and recorded Mathews and Lemley “espousing violent rhetoric towards African-Americans and Jewish-Americans,” according to the motion.
Mathews was also observed assembling an assault rifle, discussing a sniper rifle, trying to make the chemical DMT and planning an attack in Virginia on Monday.
The aim was allegedly to create instability that would “kick off the economic collapse of the U.S. within a week, after the boog starts.”
Boog, or boogaloo, is what some call the collapse of the U.S.
Mathews later said he wished he had booby-trapped his gun collection in Canada so his house would explode while RCMP officers were searching it.
“Boy, wouldn’t that be terrible, a bunch of f–king RCMP search experts got f–king exploded,” he said, the motion alleged.
The next day, Mathews discussed setting off a “full blown civil war,” according to the allegations.
When a co-accused suggested ambushing a police office, Mathews said, “I’m worried we’re going to become psychopaths.”
Mathews and Lemley bought 150 rounds of ammunition on Jan 1, 2020, as well as paper targets. FBI agents later saw Mathews at a gun range. He appeared to be shooting, while Lemley observed.
They returned to the gun range on Jan. 11, and Mathews fired the assault rifle. They then picked up ammunition and plate carriers to hold body armour from Lemley’s home.
“You realize that they’re just going to call us terrorists,” Mathews said on Jan 15.
Federal agents arrived early the next morning to arrest them. Before they were taken into custody, however, both smashed their phones and dumped them into a toilet, according to the court motion.