Charge Dropped Against Friend Of Convicted 4th Precinct Shooter

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- One of the men who was with Allen Scarsella when he shot five protesters near the Jamar Clark protest encampment outside of Minneapolis' Fourth Precinct in 2015 will not be charged with a crime.

Daniel Macey, 27, was originally charged with second-degree riot with a dangerous weapon.

He joined Scarsella, Joseph Backman and Nathan Gustavsson at the protest site on the night of Nov. 23, 2015, where all had partially concealed their faces.

Police security video showed protesters confronting the masked men, asking them to show their faces. Scarsella and his friends began to leave the area and were followed by at least five protesters.

Scarsella said in court he opened fire on the protesters after he claimed Gustavsson was punched. He said he also thought another protester had a knife.

Judge Hillary Lindell Caligiuri ordered the charge against Macey to be dismissed, citing that he came with the three men to the protest but was not with them during the shooting.

She also cited that there was no evidence via texts, emails or social media posts that he was racist.

Macey, from Pine City, was also accused of deleting videos of the protest from a hard drive, which was later proved false.

Evidence presented in court revealed that Scarsella made several racist statements in text messages to friends. He said in one message that he had a gun "designed to kill black people."

Scarsella will be sentenced on March 10, when he could receive up to about 19 years in prison.

Backman and Gustavsson still face second-degree riot charges.