An Antifa leader is facing 16 felony charges in relation to a brutal 2021 attack in San Diego during which an Antifa mob used bear mace and assaulted Trump supporters.
Brian Cortez Lightfoot, 26, is facing serious charges after he led a gang of 10 other violent Antifa members in a San Diego riot.
Six of the participants have taken plea deals and are awaiting sentencing. Meanwhile, Lightfoot and four others face trial in March if they decide not to take plea deals.
Lightfoot, who was identified by law enforcement as one of the “leaders” of the riot, is facing the most serious charges of the group. He has pled not guilty to all 16 felony charges, which include conspiracy to riot, nine different unlawful use of teargas charges, and six specific assault charges against six different victims.
In one of the evidence videos, Lightfoot is seen carrying cans of Frontiersman Bear Spray on his vest, which, according to San Diego Police detective Emily Clark, has ten times the potency of the pepper spray used by San Diego Police.
He is also captured on video spraying the can of bear mace into a woman’s face which began the attacks.
Detective Clark testified that she identified him as the group’s leader during the riot partially because he was carrying a yellow Dewalt radio communication device.
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“That’s something that I’ve seen at protests where radios are passed out to different members of the protests and used for co-ordination throughout the duration of the protest and then turned back in,” Clark explained.
The Antifa leader is later seen grabbing a tall walking stick and striking a man across the back with it.
Lightfoot is also accused of wearing “reinforced Kevlar gloves” while he punched his victims.
Social media was a useful tool in the prosecutor’s evidence-gathering process. Three days before the riot, Lightfoot sent an Antifa member a message on Instagram asking about stopping by someone’s home to pick up bear spray.
Lightfoot had also posted photos to his social media accounts in which he is wearing the same uniform he wore in the San Diego riot and is carrying a can of bear mace.
One of his social media posts is captioned “Antifa commander in chief” with a black flag next to it that the group uses to symbolize anarchism.
Including Lightfoot, five defendants involved in the San Diego Antifa riot continue to plead not guilty to all charges.
