Shortly after midnight on Tuesday morning, videos captured the moment a makeshift bomb was thrown at the Portland federal courthouse during another night of violent protest. A Trump-loving, 69-year-old woman soon stepped forward to out the suspect publicly — as her own grandson.
Karla Fox says she recognized the alleged bomber as her daughter’s son, 18-year-old Gabriel “Rico” Agard-Berryhill.
In the hours after the IED attack, social-media users analyzed videos showing a slim male, wearing a distinctive olive vest with the word “ICONS” printed on it, throwing something over the fence at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. Seconds later, a large explosion erupts, covering the front door in flames. The man picks up something off the ground and sprints off-camera. Police said the concussion could be “heard and felt more than a block away.”
Fox instantly identified her grandson because she gave him the vest.
“I bought the vest for him after he found one online after getting hit with rubber bullets the night before at the protest,” Fox told The Post. (She even left a positive review on clothing site Hibbett: “I got this for my grandson who’s a protester downtown, he uses it every night and says it does the job.”) She posted a photo of him posing in the $26 non-bulletproof apparel.
Agard-Berryhill seemed to confess to misguided involvement in the incident in text messages to The Post on Thursday, although he did not confirm he was the bomber.
“The device I’ve been accused of allegedly throwing was allegedly given to me by an unknown protestor with full face coverings,” he wrote. “I was allegedly told that it was a strobe firework that wouldn’t damage the building or harm anyone around it.”
He added: “Law enforcement has not contacted me for any alleged crime as of right now.”
Late that same night Agard-Berryhill told his probation officer he wanted to turn himself in. He was arrested by U.S. Marshals and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center, according to the affidavit by a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent. He’s charged with felony arson, and faces a minimum of five years in prison if convicted. He was released without bail.
He told the investigator that the device he was told to throw had “yellow cardboard packaging with blue stripes, was the size of a small ‘V8’ can, and had a green fuse.”
“No legitimate protest message is advanced by throwing a large explosive device against a government building. Mr. Agard-Berryhill’s actions could have gravely injured law enforcement officers positioned near the courthouse, other protesters standing nearby, or himself,” said Oregon District U.S. Attorney Billy Williams.
The bomb-throwing antics shocked Agard-Berryhill’s grandmother, a conservative who supports President Trump and whose Portland-area home is full of MAGA merchandise.
She claims she did not know her grandson’s politics and was unaware the Portland protests, now in their second month, were marked by nightly rioting.
Fox says when she last saw her grandson last week, he said that he was peacefully protesting and “protected a girl.” A man in the same vest, identified as “Rico” in the affidavit, appears in a viral July 18 video using a shield to protect a nude protester dubbed “Naked Athena.”
“I believed all his stories,” Fox says. “He said he was just hanging out at Riot Ribs [an anarchist food co-op] and doing peaceful things.”
“I don’t condone any of this,” Fox told The Post. “I am amazed at all of these events.”
She said in her last communication via text with her grandson, he asked her to delete the photo of him wearing the vest and to remove her comment about the purchase.
She says she first became aware of the video on Wednesday when a family member contacted her with links to Twitter.
Posting under the Twitter handle, “@TRUMPSGIRL2020,” Fox tweeted a response to an article with Agard-Berryhill’s photo: “This is my only grandson, I love him to death, and didn’t know he was going to do such a bad thing, I had been posting several things about the antifa and BLM, he knows I am against those riots bigtime … he chose his poison.”
Fox says she didn’t know her obscure comments helped authorities identify the arson suspect. Her review of the vest along with the photo of her grandson is listed as a lead in the federal affidavit.
Fox said her grandson is currently on probation for a felony conviction when he was a minor. She said he spent the past two years at Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in southern Oregon and recently talked of turning his life around, and getting a job at Amazon.
Fox spoke Thursday with Agard-Berryhill’s mother — her daughter — who told her she was not aware of the bomb video.
The 12:11 a.m. explosion was so loud that even members in a private chatroom used to coordinate protest and riots expressed surprise.
“Holy f–k that was the loudest explosion I’ve heard ever,” wrote one. “I felt that in my f–king bones,” wrote another.
After five weeks of violent antifa-led protests mostly concentrated in downtown Portland, the Department of Homeland Security sent in additional reinforcements on July 4 to protect the city’s flagship federal courthouse. The presence of federal officers has angered Portlanders, who have come out in huge numbers demanding they leave. There have been dozens of arrests and federal charges for assault on federal officers and destruction of property. Rioters have been observed throwing projectiles and lit commercial-grade fireworks at officers. DHS reports that some of its officers have vision damage from lasers used by rioters. Others have required medical treatment for burns and head injuries as a result of the fireworks.
Before the arrest, Fox had said of her grandson, “I love my grandson and pray for him to get the help he needs.”
