Empowered by the complete lack of law enforcement in the area, “terrorist warlord rapper” Raz Simone was seen brazenly handing out an AR-15 to a young man in the “CHAZ” Autonomous Zone in Seattle, last week. The armed rapper has been involved in several scraps in CHAZ, including an assault on a reporter who had to be escorted out of the zone to safety on Sunday by Seattle police.
In a video that was streamed live on Simone’s Facebook, the rapper can be seen grabbing an AR-15 from the back of his Tesla and handing it to a youth who may or may not be old enough to own a so-called “assault rifle.”
“We’re not doing anything illegal,” Raz can be heard saying. When asked why he wanted to be armed, the boy said, “we’re just exercising our rights is all.”
In Washington, a person must be between the ages of 18 and 21 to possess an AR-15 outside their own home or business.
Seattle police abandoned the East Precinct last Monday after several days of violent clashes, boarding up windows and doors on the orders of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkin. The six block zone has become home to Black Lives Matter activists, social justice warriors and antifa agitators. Predictably, it didn’t take long for the cop-free social experiment to devolve into chaos.
Guns, alcohol, drugs, fights are a regular occurrence inside the Seattle “autonomous zone.” The state-sanctioned experiment in anarchy goes on. pic.twitter.com/t4yPgB4M1C
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 15, 2020
Businesses & residencies are boarded up & marred with graffiti inside the Seattle BLM "autonomous zone." Even businesses outside the checkpoints are impacted by the general unrest that occurs at night. Some businesses are closing indefinitely. https://t.co/vhNNDK25BN
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 15, 2020
A list of rules & guidelines for “non-black photographers” has been posted inside the Seattle BLM “Autonomous Zone.” It says photographers need to censor identifying features of people. #antifa #BlackLivesMatter #CapitalHillAutonomousZone pic.twitter.com/ZaFF07RYxa
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 15, 2020
A man on a microphone sicced a large mob on the Car Tender autoshop near the Seattle “autonomous zone.” They broke down the fence. The owner said he apprehended an arsonist before all his comrades showed up to try & free him. Police never came. #CapitolHillAutonomousZone #antifa pic.twitter.com/hf4lYzm2rF
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 15, 2020
“F— work” grafitti at the Seattle “autonomous zone.” #CapitalHillAutonomousZone pic.twitter.com/zcNJD65czl
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 15, 2020
In recent days, “Raz” has emerged as a gun-toting “warlord” who metes out justice in the many disputes and violent outbursts that crop up within CHAZ’s borders.
CHAZ’S WARLORD, RAZ, SEEN HERE WITH SEMI AUTOMATIC GUN SECURING HIS BORDERpic.twitter.com/srRzdeYy2A
— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) June 12, 2020
A videographer was allegedly forcibly detained and assaulted by Raz and his henchmen after recording in the autonomous zone on Sunday. Scriberr’s co-founder and field reporter, Kalen D’Almeida, said that as he was trying to escape the angry mob, a Toyota Camry with tinted windows pursued him and tried to make him give up his recording equipment and report to a “medical tent for interrogation.”
D’Almeida posted a video that went viral last week showing a CHAZ resident demanding that “all white people must pay black people $10.00.”
https://twitter.com/FromKalen/status/1271709379688087555?s=20
After the sun went down on June 14, according to D’Almeida, a few groups, including antifa, John Brown Gun Club, as well as Simone and his followers reportedly gathered in the street.
“I was sitting on a couch 40 yards away filming Raz Simone in case anything interesting happened while he was out,” D’Almeida said.
There had been multiple reports the previous nights of Simone patrolling the zone with a gun harnessed on his leg.
While Simone insisted his purpose was a peaceful protest and nothing else, multiple scuffles occurred within his group that was settled through force.
According to D’Almeida and multiple field reporters on the scene, a few of Simone’s friends huddled in a circle looking at something on a cell phone. When they spotted D’Almeida, they began stalking him.
“Give me your phone, show me what’s on your phone, or I’m going to knock you the f*ck out,” one man said to D’Almeida.
D’Almeida decided to move away from the area, when another agitator grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and punched him in the back of his head. Soon, he found himself surrounded by more agitators so he ran outside of the zone’s barriers to seek help. He recalled yelling for people to help him get out of the area, but no one did.
Even after D’Almedia escaped CHAZ and alerted Seattle authorities, agitators followed him in a midnight-blue Toyota Camry with all-tinted windows. He said the angry mob wanted him to give up his phone and equipment and report to a “medical tent for interrogation.”
Finally, he was able to be escorted back to his hotel by officers in the Seattle Police Department.
Following the attack, Scriberr condemned violence against journalists and promised to release exclusive footage of the attack.