Two leaders of the Ku Klux Klan were arrested over the weekend in North Carolina in relation to the stabbing of a fellow Klan member hours before a parade by the white supremacist group celebrating Donald Trump’s presidential election, an official said Tuesday. A spokesman for the Caswell County Sheriff’s office told AFP that William Hagen and Christopher Barker were arrested for assault on Saturday after the stabbing of Richard Dillon./ AFP PHOTO /
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Two leaders of the Ku Klux Klan group were set to appear in court on charges of stabbing a fellow white supremacist before a parade to celebrate Donald Trump’s presidential election, a sheriff’s official said Tuesday.
William Hagen and Christopher Barker were arrested Saturday in Caswell County in the southeastern US state of North Carolina after allegedly stabbing Richard Dillon, a sheriff’s official in the county said.
The official, who would not give his name, said the men had gotten into an argument with Dillon that turned violent.
Hagen has been identified as the leader, or “Grand Dragon,” of the Loyal White Knights faction of the Klan in California. Barker is the founder, or “Imperial Wizard,” of the Loyal White Knights in North Carolina.
Both were charged with assault with a deadly weapon after Dillon, who was stabbed in the chest, went to police.
The pair were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
The incident took place hours before the Klan held a “Trump victory parade” in Roxboro, North Carolina, during which participants shouted white power slogans.
Hagen was one of several Klan members involved in a “white lives matter” rally in February in Anaheim, California, that escalated into violence.
Trump’s victory has been widely celebrated by white supremacist groups in the United States and former KKK leader David Duke has expressed support for the Republican president-elect.
Trump has disavowed the KKK and Duke but some have argued not strongly enough.
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