Arizona man charged after plotting mass shooting at Atlanta concert to incite race war

A man from Arizona was indicted on federal weapons charges after being arrested as part of a sting operation involving a planned hate crime-related mass shooting at an Atlanta concert.

Mark Adams Prieto, 58, was charged with firearms trafficking, transporting a firearm for use in a hate crime and possession of an unregistered firearm nearly a month after his May 14 arrest when he was pulled over in New Mexico while driving from his home. from Arizona to Florida while in possession of seven firearms.

Those weapons, the Justice Department alleges, were part of a six-month operation in which “Prieto had conversations with two individuals who were working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to devise a plan to commit mass shootings of African-Americans and other minorities. are fomenting a race war before the 2024 United States Presidential Election,” the DOJ said in a press release.

Prieto — who was a vendor at an Arizona gun show and whose past remarks about race wars and mass shootings first brought him to the FBI's attention in October 2023 — reportedly targeted an Atlanta concert that was set to held on May 14 and May 15, 2024 at State Farm Arena for the mass shooting for which he supplied weapons, FBI Phoenix Field Office spokesman said.

While the Justice Department did not specify which concert Prieto allegedly targeted, among the notable shows of those two nights in Atlanta were a pair of Bad Bunny concerts scheduled for the city's State Farm Arena on May 14 and 15.

According to the indictment (via WSB-TV Atlanta), Prieto admitted to undercover agents, “The reason I say Atlanta. Why, why is Georgia like that [expletive]-up status now? When I was a kid, it was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why not now? Because as crime got worse in Los Angeles and St. Louis and all these other cities, all the [expletives] moved from those (places) and moved to Atlanta. That's why it's not so great anymore. And it's been there for a couple, several years.” He added that “there will be a large concentration of African-Americans” at the targeted concert.

Earlier this year, Prieto sold a pair of AK-style rifles to one of the undercover agents as part of the scheme. However, while Prieto was arrested on May 14 – the day of the concert – the indictment says plans for the mass killing were later moved to June.

If convicted, Prieto faces 10 to 15 years on each of the weapons charges. A trial date has not yet been set.