— a gesture that many far-right extremists have adopted as a trolling tactic or a genuine hate symbol — as he left his interview with an FBI agent in July 2022.
Images recovered from his cellphone showed him in Washington with Proud Boys members on Dec. 12, 2020. Probation officers gave Betancur permission to visit the city that day and on Jan. 6, both times under the pretense that he was traveling with Gideon International to distribute Bibles. “Betancur has voiced homicidal ideations, made comments about conducting a school shooting, and has researched mass shootings,” the affidavit said.
In June 2022, a rider on a Metro train in the Washington area reported that Betancur harassed other passengers, yelling racial slurs and making racist statements about Black people, according to prosecutors. They said the rider also reported that Betancur held a folding knife as he left a Metro station. Police officers stopped Betancur but didn’t arrest him, prosecutors said.