FAST FACTS:
Facebook - WREG On Your Side Investigators
Twitter - @nc3investigates keli.rabon@wreg.com
(West Memphis, AR 5/20/2010) The suspects from the West Memphis deadly shooting have been been linked to the "Sovereign Citizens Movement", a right-wing extremist group known for promoting anti-government ideals.
Jerry Kane, 45, and his son Joe, 16, travelled the country hosting seminars that claimed to help people fight foreclosure.
Kane's last seminar was in Last Vegas on May 16 and 17. The On Your Side Investigators spoke with a woman named "Jacqueline" who hosted the classes led by Kane.
Jacqueline says the Kane's left Last Vegas on Monday for Florida to return home to Kane's wife. He had another seminar planned for May 29-30 in Safety Harbor, FL.
Initial reports about the Kane's and their white van tied the two to the "House of God's Prayer" church in New Vienna, OH. Some reports indicated they may be affiliated with a white supremacist group. But friends of Kane insist that is not true.
"That van was given to him in exchange for helping someone with their properties and their home," one woman said. She indicated that Kane had helped her protect her home from foreclosure as well.
"Jerry and his son were not racial at all. They loved people no matter who you are. They didn't look at your color or your race," Jacqueline said.
Another friend of the Kane's confirmed that Jerry Kane believed he was a sovereign citizen. The man told the On Your Side Investigators that Kane "doesn't believe law enforcement should be in his way." He said that Kane did not believe in laws like having a driver's license and displaying license plates on a car.
"He never allowed he or his son to be part of 'the system,'" the man said. "He chose to home school his son to help keep him out of 'the system.'"
The man also said that Kane was known to have a Beretta with him when he travelled, "for his own protection."
Late Friday evening, the Anti-Defamation League issued this statement:
The deaths of two police officers in West Memphis, Arkansas represent the latest acts of violence perpetrated by sovereign citizens, a movement which believes the government holds no authority over them.
Historically, adherents of the sovereign citizen movement have engaged in a wide array of criminal activities, ranging from issuing threatening documents to carrying out acts of violence.
Loosely organized, the sovereign citizen movement is dominated by "gurus" who travel the country holding seminars to teach their pseudo-legal and pseudo-historical theories. Jerry Kane was one such sovereign citizen "guru;" at the time of the shoot-outs he was apparently returning from a seminar he conducted in Las Vegas.
If Jerry Kane is proven responsible for these tragic murders, it would be a new page in the same old book for the sovereign citizens, who have assaulted or killed a number of law enforcement officials in the past 20 years, especially during traffic stops.
In April, the FBI released an alert about sovereign groups, calling the movement "domestic terrorism."
- Suspects in West Memphis shooting linked to Sovereign Citizen Movement.
- It's a group the WREG Investigators first told you about months ago.
- Friend of Jerry Kane explains how he acquired the white van involved in the shooting.
Facebook - WREG On Your Side Investigators
Twitter - @nc3investigates keli.rabon@wreg.com
(West Memphis, AR 5/20/2010) The suspects from the West Memphis deadly shooting have been been linked to the "Sovereign Citizens Movement", a right-wing extremist group known for promoting anti-government ideals.
Jerry Kane, 45, and his son Joe, 16, travelled the country hosting seminars that claimed to help people fight foreclosure.
Kane's last seminar was in Last Vegas on May 16 and 17. The On Your Side Investigators spoke with a woman named "Jacqueline" who hosted the classes led by Kane.
Jacqueline says the Kane's left Last Vegas on Monday for Florida to return home to Kane's wife. He had another seminar planned for May 29-30 in Safety Harbor, FL.
Initial reports about the Kane's and their white van tied the two to the "House of God's Prayer" church in New Vienna, OH. Some reports indicated they may be affiliated with a white supremacist group. But friends of Kane insist that is not true.
"That van was given to him in exchange for helping someone with their properties and their home," one woman said. She indicated that Kane had helped her protect her home from foreclosure as well.
"Jerry and his son were not racial at all. They loved people no matter who you are. They didn't look at your color or your race," Jacqueline said.
Another friend of the Kane's confirmed that Jerry Kane believed he was a sovereign citizen. The man told the On Your Side Investigators that Kane "doesn't believe law enforcement should be in his way." He said that Kane did not believe in laws like having a driver's license and displaying license plates on a car.
"He never allowed he or his son to be part of 'the system,'" the man said. "He chose to home school his son to help keep him out of 'the system.'"
The man also said that Kane was known to have a Beretta with him when he travelled, "for his own protection."
Late Friday evening, the Anti-Defamation League issued this statement:
The deaths of two police officers in West Memphis, Arkansas represent the latest acts of violence perpetrated by sovereign citizens, a movement which believes the government holds no authority over them.
Historically, adherents of the sovereign citizen movement have engaged in a wide array of criminal activities, ranging from issuing threatening documents to carrying out acts of violence.
Loosely organized, the sovereign citizen movement is dominated by "gurus" who travel the country holding seminars to teach their pseudo-legal and pseudo-historical theories. Jerry Kane was one such sovereign citizen "guru;" at the time of the shoot-outs he was apparently returning from a seminar he conducted in Las Vegas.
If Jerry Kane is proven responsible for these tragic murders, it would be a new page in the same old book for the sovereign citizens, who have assaulted or killed a number of law enforcement officials in the past 20 years, especially during traffic stops.
In April, the FBI released an alert about sovereign groups, calling the movement "domestic terrorism."
