Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that law enforcement had arrested some of the agitators who invaded a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday.
“Minutes ago at my direction [Homeland Security Investigations] and [FBI] agents executed an arrest in Minnesota,” Bondi posted on X Thursday morning.
“So far, we have arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, who allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” she added. “We will share more updates as they become available.”
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” the attorney general wrote.
Shortly afterward, Bondi posted that Chauntyll Louisa Allen had also been arrested. “More to come,” she added.
The attorney general also announced that authorities had also arrested William Kelly, the man who posted videos of the incident online on the handle “DaWoke Farmer.”
Allen identified herself as a member of the St. Paul school board and leader of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities in a TMZ interview. She is also running for a city council seat, according to her school board candidacy website.
Between 30 and 40 anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement agitators interrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church, a non-denominational Christian church in St. Paul, and shouted, “Justice for Renee Good!” as they surrounded members of the congregation.
Videos of the incident show the pastor and others repeatedly asking the agitators to leave, and the agitators chanting, “Who shut this down? We shut this down!”
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is investigating the incident for potential violations of the FACE Act, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced Sunday. She also mentioned prosecution under the Ku Klux Klan Act.
Armstrong, leader of the Racial Justice Network and a former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, told Democracy Now that she does not regret helping to lead the protest.
“We are unapologetic about going into the church,” Armstrong said. She called it a “conflict of interest” for a pastor to oversee “the brutal conduct of ICE agents.”
When asked about the prospect of facing charges, Armstrong called it “hypocrisy” that the Justice Department would investigate the agitators but not the ICE agent who shot Good. She also faulted President Donald Trump for enabling ICE to arrest illegal aliens inside churches with a warrant.
William Kelly, the third arrestee, had dared Pam Bondi to charge him.
“So, you know, Pam Bondi, you want to come and arrest me, you want to come and give me charges, so be it,” he said.
The attorney general posted the video clip of his remark with the message, “Ok.”