vigilantes

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Vigilantes Hunting Pedophiles Getting Famous, More Violent
Violence Grows Among
Pedophile-Hunting Vigilantes
longform
Mar 30, 2025 9:30 AM CDT

Violence Grows Among Pedophile-Hunting Vigilantes

New York Times explores the surge of viral attack videos

(Newser) - The show To Catch a Predator may have ended nearly 20 years ago, but it continues to inspire a new generation of increasingly violent vigilantes. A New York Times investigation looks into how groups and individuals on platforms such as Kick and Locals have been gaining followers—and thus, money—...

Predator Vigilante Fatally Shot in Restaurant

Robert Wayne Lee of Pontiac, Michigan,, aka Boopac Shakur, sought to expose sexual predators

(Newser) - A 40-year-old Detroit-area man who posed as a 15-year-old girl on social media to identify alleged sexual predators has been fatally shot during an argument in a restaurant. Police arrested two males, ages 17 and 18, in Friday night's slaying of Robert Wayne Lee of Pontiac, the Oakland County...

Tipster: Militia Members Went to Kenosha to 'Pick People Off'

FBI arrests Missouri men Michael Karmo, Cody Smith, finds stash of weapons and ammo

(Newser) - Out-of-staters converging on Kenosha, Wis., to confront protesters has already resulted in one death, at the hands of Kyle Rittenhouse , an armed 17-year-old from Illinois who considered himself to be protecting the city. Now, two men from Missouri with ties to a militia are in custody on weapons charges after...

FBI Busts Leader of Border Vigilante Group

Larry Hopkins charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm

(Newser) - A New Mexico man belonging to an armed group that has detained Central American families near the US-Mexico border was arrested Saturday in a border community on a criminal complaint accusing him of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said that...

Vigilante Couple Who Tied Up Alleged Predator Could Face Charges

They say he visited home for sex with girl, 13

(Newser) - After a 28-year-old man who allegedly wanted to have sex with their 13-year-old daughter showed up at their home, a Canadian couple restrained him with zip ties and called the Mounties. Now they're the ones who could face charges. In Facebook Live video of the incident , the mother can...

Tired of Kidnappings, Mexicans Kidnap Gang Leader's Mom

Vigilantes say they're 'legitimate self-defense force' against Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, posse

(Newser) - The way to a Mexican gang leader's heart isn't his stomach—it's his mom. At least, that's what vigilantes in a Mexican town in southern Guerrero state are banking on, holding hostage the mother of drug kingpin Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, aka "El Tequilero,"...

Cops, Vigilantes Kill Hundreds in Philippines Crackdown

Rights groups believe dozens are being killed daily

(Newser) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appears to be making progress in the war on crime he promised when he took office a month ago—as long as murder isn't considered a crime. The Guardian reports that more than 700 people suspected of dealing or using drugs have been killed since...

Vigilante 'Bolt Force' Trying to Solve Ariz. Shootings

But Phoenix cops investigating freeway shootings want Bolt Force to back off

(Newser) - They bill themselves as "the nation's first and only armed volunteer crime fighting force that specializes in law enforcement and preservation of order." And this week, members of Bolt Force are turning their attention toward solving an Arizona mystery that's been frightening residents and puzzling police:...

Vigilantes Take Mexico Town in Fight With Cartel

Say they're headed for cartel headquarters

(Newser) - More than 100 vigilantes poured into a western Mexico town yesterday, disarming police and battling with alleged cartel members before eventually taking control of the town of Nueva Italia. Upon arrival in Nueva Italia, they were welcomed, the AP reports. But gunfire soon began in the town's center and...

Woman Claims She's Hunting Bus-Driving Rapists

Ciudad Juarez authorities looking for woman who killed 2 drivers

(Newser) - Mexican prosecutors are investigating claims that a woman who killed two bus drivers last week in this northern border city was seeking revenge for alleged sexual abuse of female passengers. A woman wearing a blond wig—or dyed hair—boarded a Ciudad Juarez bus on Wednesday morning, approached the driver,...

Egyptian Vigilantes Target, Shame Sex Harassers

Groups seek to protect women, force cops to act

(Newser) - Vigilante groups have sprung up in Egypt to combat the country's chronic sexual harassment problem. Women have long faced catcalls, groping, and assaults on Egypt's streets and police tended to ignore the problem during the years of authoritarian rule, the New York Times reports. The citizens' groups that...

Roma Flee Vigilante Training Camp

Ultra-right group sets up shop near their Hungarian village

(Newser) - More than 270 Roma women and children evacuated their Hungarian village today after vigilantes established a training camp nearby, the AP reports. The vigilante group, called Vedero, wants “to intimidate the Roma here," said the head of the local Roma council. “We are afraid and we have...

Border Vigilante Gets Death in Killing of Girl, Dad

Shawna Forde plotted home invasion turned murder

(Newser) - Shawna Forde, the self-styled border vigilante convicted in the deaths of a 9-year-old Arizona girl and her father, was sentenced to death yesterday. Forde’s attorney had asked jurors to spare Forde’s life because repeated childhood abuse had left her a “broken person,” but the DA noted...

Border Vigilante Who Killed 9-Year-Old: I'm Not Sorry

'I'm not sorry because I'm innocent,' says Shawna Forde

(Newser) - The Arizona border vigilante convicted of killing an American dad and his 9-year-old daughter said that "people with children shouldn't deal drugs" when asked if she sympathizes with the mother of the murdered girl. Camouflage-clad Minutemen American Defense member Shawna Forde burst into the family's home with a gunman...

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