Black Hammer 'cult' leader arrested after cops found dead body following SWAT standoff: report
The leader of a fringe extremist group that has been described as a "cult" was arrested by police in Georgia following a police standoff.
"The house at the center of [an] hours-long SWAT standoff and a deadly shooting in Fayetteville on Tuesday is connected to Atlanta-based extremist organization, the Black Hammer Party, according to the group’s social media posts," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday. "Fayetteville Police said they received a 911 call Tuesday morning at 7:48 a.m. from “a person whispering that they had been kidnapped by an organization and was being held in the garage of a residence.” Police said they located the residence by tracing the call."
There was an hours-long standoff and the neighborhood was placed under a shelter-in-place order. After it was resolved, authorities said they described a dead body with a gunshot wound that authorities believe may have been self-inflicted
Augustus Romain, 36, also known as Gazi Kodzo, was arrested on charges of aggravated sodomy, and two counts each on the charges of conspiracy to commit a felony, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and criminal street gang activity.
Xavier Rushin, 21, was not charged with sodomy, but instead was charged with the other ten counts, along with obstructing or hindering a law enforcement officer.
"The Black Hammer Party mixes Black nationalist rhetoric and a revolutionary message with hot-button issues like anti-vaccine myths and election conspiracies, the AJC previously reported. The organization has drawn hundreds of followers across the nation over the last two years," the newspaper reported. "The group’s members routinely carry firearms when they appear in public and Kodzo regularly boasts how their security detail is armed. People who have left the group have said that members in the group’s communal home are watched by armed guards. Kodzo has given inflammatory interviews to conservative news sites, trashed American foreign policy for Russian journalists, and announced an alliance with the Proud Boys over shared conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election — all the while maintaining an active presence on social media."
Kodzo used Facebook to dispute the police department conclusion that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, instead claiming the person was murdered by police.
On Wednesday, another message was posted to the same account.
"In a targeted attack yesterday by the Fayetteville Police Department, SWAT and the FBI on the headquarters of the Atlanta chapter of the Black Hammer Party, not only was Commander Gazi arrested but also their other son Keno was arrested and their son AP was shot and "killed by the police," the message alleged.
Daily Beast journalist Will Sommer, who is writing a book on QAnon, identified the deceased as Amonte Ammons, 18.
Sommer explained that in 2021, Kodzo began dressing in makeup that made him look like the Joker and referring to himself in the third person as the Joker, posing for threatening videos in front of cadres of Black Hammer members in the makeup."
"In the summer of 2021, Black Hammer reached its apex with an attempt to build 'Black Hammer City' in the Colorado wilderness," he explained. "Kodzo’s internet haters quickly predicted the site would turn into “Jonestown 2.0.” While it didn’t go that poorly, the attempted city was a disaster. Former members complain online that they were stuck in the wilderness with few supplies."
The land owner eventually backed out of the deal and the settlement collapsed.
Kodzo live-streamed part of the standoff on his Facebook account and savored the attention.
“More media, more followers, more — you know — advancement work, more movement, more greatness,” Kodzo said. “So be it, sweetheart.”
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