Law enforcement discovered a cache of weaponry and armor, including a machine gun and grenade launchers, along with Nazi paraphernalia during a raid of a home in Washington state, authorities said Tuesday.
Derek Sanders, the elected sheriff of Thurston County, said in a Facebook post that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division asked his office for assistance Monday as an FBI special weapons and tactics team executed a search warrant in Lacey, near the state capitol of Olympia, “as a result of a violent robbery and theft of military weaponry/armor.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday night that the search warrant related to an Army CID and FBI investigation into an assault Sunday at Joint Base Lewis-McCord, just north of Olympia.
Sanders’ statement said two people were arrested and booked into Thurston County Jail for investigation of firearms-related offenses.
“The suspects identified in this case were actively involved in Nazi White Nationalist efforts,” he wrote.
Sanders did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday night.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office statement said Army investigators had identified suspects in the assault at the military base and the FBI executed the search warrant late Monday night into early Tuesday.
Reached for comment, the FBI said its Seattle office was “assisting our partners Thurston County Sheriff’s Office and Army Criminal Investigation Division” and referred questions to them.
Additional information was expected to be included in a federal criminal complaint to be unsealed Wednesday. The two people arrested were expected to make initial appearances at U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Wednesday afternoon.
In his post, Sanders said agents had seized 35 firearms at the home, including short barrel rifles and an MG42 machine gun — a type typically supported with a bipod and which was used by German troops during World War II. Other seized gear included grenade launchers, explosives, body armor, ammunition and ballistic helmets, and multiple rifles were staged at windows throughout the residence, the sheriff said.
He posted photos from the home showing an array of weapons, ammunition and body armor surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia, including a red Nazi flag emblazoned with a black swastika.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.