Arizona gun nut planned to hoist Confederate flag and shoot up Bad Bunny concert to ‘incite a race war’ ahead of 2024 election

An Arizona gunman wanted to “spark a race war” ahead of the presidential election by shooting up a Bad Bunny concert in Atlanta and planting Confederate flags, it has been revealed.

Mark Adams Prieto, 58, of Prescott, was arrested last month while traveling on a New Mexico highway — after months of planning the State Farm Arena mass shooting with an undercover FBI agent and his informant.

He targeted Atlanta because of its large black population and planned for all three to open fire in the arena on May 14 and 15 – when Bad Bunny was scheduled to perform – leaving Confederate flags behind while chanting “KKK all the way” would shout and “White people here who are killing, what are we going to do,” according to a statement released Tuesday.

Prieto even allegedly told the undercover officer that he wanted to send a message that “we are going to fight back now, and every white person will be the enemy in the whole country.”

FBI agents said they first began investigating Prieto in late 2023, after an informant who had spoken to the gun nut at previous gun shows noticed him begin making a number of suspicious and alarming comments — including asking him whether he was ‘ready to kill a bunch’. of people’ and said he wanted to target ‘blacks, Jews or Muslims’.

The informant told the agents that Prieto believed martial law would be implemented shortly after the 2024 presidential election, and specifically told the informant that he wanted to “spark a race war” before then.

In late January, the informant introduced an undercover agent to Prieto at the Crossroads of the West gun show in his hometown, where the suspect was selling his personal firearms — admitting he would only accept cash to avoid any interference from the Bureau of Justice. Alcohol, tobacco and firearms.

He then allegedly asked the two if they would help him carry out a shooting in Atlanta, complaining about the large black population.

“The reason I say Atlanta, why, why has Georgia deteriorated so much now?” Prieto allegedly explained it to the undercover officer.

“When I was a kid, this was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why is that not the case now? Because when crime got worse in LA, St. Louis and all these other cities, all the motherfuckers left there and moved to Atlanta.

“That’s why it’s not so great anymore,” he said. “And they’ve seen them there for a few years.”

He unknowingly planned the mass shooting with an undercover FBI agent and his informant

In the coming months, Prieto would provide more details about his plans: He said they would need to find a place to store the weapons in Atlanta before the concert and discussed how to remove firearm residue from their bodies.

Prieto even allegedly sold the undercover agent two automatic rifles — an AK-47 at a Phoenix gun show in late February and an AR-15 the following month, saying it would be “a good weapon to use in the attack.” . ‘

He reportedly emphasized the importance of a large number of deaths, telling both the officer and the informant to show “no mercy” and advising that they “couldn’t have any feelings.”

“They’re not real people, they’re monsters as far as I’m concerned,” Prieto allegedly said to the two proposed victims.

Prieto is said to have emphasized the need for a large death toll during the concert

As the dates of the concert drew closer, Prieto also identified the people he believed might be accomplices. He planned to tour the site in May after visiting his mother in Florida.

He was then caught on May 14 driving on a New Mexico highway with five firearms in his vehicle, the affidavit said.

A subsequent raid on his Arizona home later uncovered additional firearms, including an unregistered short-barreled rifle.

When questioned, agents say, Prieto admitted to selling an AR-15 to the FBI agent and discussing an attack on the concert venue “where youth and minorities [would be]’ – but insisted that at the time of his arrest he was only traveling to Florida to visit his mother.

Prieto now faces federal charges of firearms trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime and possession of an unregistered firearm.

He is in the custody of the US Marshals Service for transport back to Arizona. according to NBC News.

If convicted, Prieto could face up to 15 years in prison for each count of firearms trafficking and transferring a firearm for use in a hate crime, and an additional 10 years behind bars for possession of an unregistered firearm.

In addition, he could be fined up to $250,000 for each charge.