Oklahoma City Police have filed complaints against a man accused of vandalizing News 9’s NextGen Live radar.
Capt. Valerie Littlejohn said Anthony Tyler Mitchell, 39, faces complaints of malicious injury to property, second-degree burglary, and damage to critical infrastructure.
Mitchell is not officially charged for these crimes; that decision is up to the District Attorney.
Police said Mitchell was already in jail on related charges.
Is the suspect connected to an ‘anti-government militia group’ targeting radars?
Investigators also said they are not able to confirm any connection between Mitchell and the group Veterans on Patrol.
The founder of Veterans on Patrol told News 9 that it is “targeting” Oklahoma weather radars, in an interview days after News 9’s weather radar was vandalized.
The group, which the Southern Poverty Law Center called an “anti-government militia,” shared with News 9 that they believe weather radars control the weather.
When News 9 asked Veterans on Patrol founder if the group was responsible for vandalism to News 9’s radar, Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer only replied, “Veterans On Patrol is responsible for a lot more than that.”
You can hear the interview inside our story below, which ran on News 9 on Tuesday.
What happened to News 9’s Radar?
Officers began investigating a report of property damage around noon Tuesday.
Police told News 9 they believe Mitchell is the person seen on surveillance footage damaging the power supply to News 9’s NextGen Live radar in northeast Oklahoma City on Sunday night.
>>‘Anti-government Militia’ Says It’s Targeting Oklahoma Weather Radars
Image Provided By: Griffin Media
Footage shows the suspect arriving at the radar site around 9:30 p.m. He climbed a fence and, within minutes, disabled a key power disconnect, smashed the power meter, and broke into the generator’s transfer switch control panel before destroying it.
The suspect then targeted the site’s security cameras, destroying all of them, but not before the cameras captured clear images of his face.
The vandalism temporarily knocked News 9’s radar offline. Power has since been restored, and the radar system is fully operational.
