The apparent leader of a gang of white supremacists who terrorized immigrants along the US-Mexico border, holding hundreds of them at gunpoint, has been attacked in jail and reportedly received non-life-threatening injuries, say authorities.
We previously reported about the self-described “Confederate militia” group, and shared their brag videos about the mass abuses they committed with the apparent benign support of Border Patrol agents in the area, who are seen rounding up the humans after the militia gathered them while displaying lethal force.
Larry Mitchell Hopkins is 69, and also goes by the name Johnny Horton Junior.
He leads the United Constitutional Patriots from his home in a trailer park in northern New Mexico.
The El Paso Times reports Hopkins “was attacked in the Doña Ana County Detention Center, county officials said Wednesday.”
The FBI arrested Hopkins on Saturday in Sunland Park on a federal charge that he is a convicted felon in possession of guns. He was being held at the county jail in Las Cruces at the time of the attack.
Officials said they’re investigating an assault on Hopkins that happened after 9 p.m. Monday, but they provided few details.
Hopkins had his first court appearance Monday afternoon, and a complaint revealed that the FBI suspected him of making assassination threats against former President Barack Obama, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and billionaire activist George Soros.
“Hopkins was given medical attention for non life-threatening injuries,” according to a Doña Ana County news release. “He was transferred out of the Doña Ana County Detention Center under the direction of the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday.”
Officials have not released the names of the person or people suspected of attacking Hopkins.
On Tuesday, members of his group were evicted from their campsite in Sunland Park.