Outpost of Freedom blog

Camp Lone Star — The Setup
Get Massey

Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
April 18, 2015

There were always bits and pieces that pointed toward a rather unpleasant picture; however, they amounted to nothing more than circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence has always been an insufficient foundation for my articles.

Now, we are going to look at some of that circumstantial evidence. It will include statements from players, though that information has not yet been made public, nor is the government even aware that this information has come to light. One of these two sources was present the night before the arrest (October 19, 2014). The other was present at the shooting incident (August 29, 2014).

We will begin with the team of Massey, Varner, and Foerster, and the relevant events leading up to, and after the shooting incident.

In the early afternoon of August 29, Massey decided to run a patrol, and asked if anyone wanted to go. Both Varner and Foerster agreed to go. Whether Foerster made any phone calls, once he knew that Massey was participating in the patrol, is not known. It is possible that another person in the camp provided that information to an unknown investigator awaiting the opportunity and circumstance under which Massey could be charged with “Felon in Possession”. We will refer to that other person as “S”.

To establish a timeline for the subsequent events, we look at when Massey spoke with Mr. Aguilar, the Curator of the Sabal Palms Preserve, the private property where the shooting occurred. Varner had looked at his phone at about 3:00 PM, just a couple of minutes before Massey finished his conversation with Mr. Aguilar — to provide protection on the Sabal Palms property.

Approximately 20 minutes later, after visiting a couple of other locations, they arrived near the scene of the subsequent shooting. A BP agent appeared to be interested in something, so Massey asked him if they could help. The agent responded, “Yes, we could use some help.” At this point, they parked the Mule (an ATV) and spread out. Varner says that Massey was about sixty feet away and Foerster, another 120 feet away. Shortly after they began, Varner saw an unidentified BP agent jogging along with Foerster, perhaps ten feet from him. This event is estimated to be 5 to 7 minutes before the shooting. Minutes later, because of the vegetation, visibility between Varner, Massey, and Foerster was obscured. So, we have a BP agent with Foerster before the shooting.

About 2 to 4 minutes before the shooting, BP agent Cantu moves to within a few feet behind Varner, though he says nothing. As shots are heard, Varner said, “Shots fired”, and repeated this at least three times. Cantu doesn’t react to these calls, or the shots — at least at this time.

The first words out of Cantu’s mouth were, “Where is Massey?” That raises the question, since Massey was not visible from where Varner and Cantu were; how did Cantu knew that Massey was on the patrol?

Varner responds by yelling to Massey, “Cantu is looking for you!”

Cantu then walked in the direction of the shots, without meeting Massey. Within a few minutes, he returns with the BP agent who fired the shots, and Foerster. Now, this gets interesting; Varner is absolutely sure that the agent’s nametag read “Hernandez”, while the government’s testimony, to date, says it was “Gonzales”. Foerster and the agent were both still in possession of their firearms.

Cantu and the agent walked toward the “assembly area”, where the investigation was to be conducted. Cantu told Massey to follow them with the Mule. Massey said something to the effect that nobody was hurt and they would like to leave. Cantu told him that they would have to go to the assembly area for the investigation. They were all still in possession of their weapons, which were left in the Mule when they arrived at the assembly area.

An agent from BPS removed the weapons from the Mule and placed them in the back of a BP vehicle. One could suppose that “Officer Safety” advised them that there was a risk in leaving the weapons with the innocent Camp Lone Star members.

About this time, the shooter, Hernandez/Gonzales, walked up to Cantu and traded firearms with him. The evidence in the shooting was not bagged, but rather simply changed holsters. This happened before any outside investigators arrived on the scene. Ponder, if you will, whether the subsequent investigation, conducted by the Sheriff’s Deputy and the FBI, included the weapon used in the shooting; if ballistics tests were conducted, and which weapon was tested, if they even bothered to ask for it. But, let’s not confuse ourselves with such details. However Varner, once again, confirms that the shooter’s nametag read “Hernandez”.

Varner, upon asking Cantu what had happened, was told that the shooting occurred when the agent was about 30 feet from Foerster, which was confirmed in subsequent testimony. Varner remains incredulous; “How could anyone miss with five shots from 30 feet?” Varner also states that he never heard the shooter utter a word, to anyone, throughout the entire ordeal.

When Varner’s weapons were returned to him by the Sheriff’s Deputy, the Deputy asked what had happened. Varner told him about the BP requesting help, though that, conveniently, does not show up in the testimony.

When the trio returned to Camp Lone Star, “S” was, uncharacteristically, standing, waiting, for them. He had never done so, before.

Next, we fast-forward to the evening of October 19, 2014. Archie Seals, James Lewis, and Massey were in the long-term motel room that was used for an occasional good night’s rest, a good hot shower, and for meetings, as the need arose.

This particular night a conference call was scheduled with a number of militia people from around the country. The topic of the call was a plan for a massive gathering in Washington, D.C., though the objective, strategy, and tactics were, at the least, undeveloped. They did decide to name it “Operation American Freedom”.

The call had been going on for quite a while, when Foerster buzzed the room and Lewis went down to let him in, brought him up by the elevator, and into the room. This is significant in that Foerster had been removed from Camp Lone Star due to his erratic behavior, at least three weeks prior, and had not been heard from, since. He did not say anything; he simply went over to the bed and sat down. He remained there for the rest of his stay.

After the conference call ended, Lewis and Seal returned to Camp Lone Star. Foerster remained, absent any meaningful conversation or reason. Then he left, probably after he was certain that Massey was going to spend the night in the motel room.

The next morning, Massey left and found 15 to 20 agents waiting in the parking lot to arrest him. Well, someone must have told them that he had spent the night in the room. The presence of 15 to 20 agents indicates that they knew that Massey had spent the night in the room.

When I began this story, I explained that there was a lot of circumstantial evidence. Well, some is explained, above, while other such evidence can be surmised by the events. Taken together, it only raises a suspicion, at best.

Now, when we look at the sworn testimony by either document, or from the transcript, we have established a critical timeline of events.

The government claims that the shooting occurred at about 3:45 PM. The government’s sworn testimony states that that the first records check was run by Deputy Sheriff Valerio, after he arrived at 4:18 PM.

Massey’s attorney, Mr. Louis Sorola, though he has yet to receive copies, made notes while reviewing some records. The two important records, and the absence of one, show that Massey was run through the NCIC system at 15:12:53 (That’s 3:12 PM), fully one half hour before the shooting, and over an hour before the sworn statement as to the first records check to determine if Massey (not even a witness to the shooting) had a felony record. The NCIC records check was not run by the Sheriff, and there is no record in the Persecutor’s file that shows that the Sheriff ran them (as testified), or not. The check was run by FBI SA Schneider. But, the FBI didn’t arrive on the scene until after the Sheriff, and, purportedly, only to conduct interviews.

There is no record that Varner was ever run that day. Though, if they didn’t know better, they would have run everyone who had weapons, including Varner.

Finally, Foerster, who is a convicted felon, was not run through the system until after 8:00 PM, though I do not have the exact time. So, since Foerster was the alleged target of the shooting, why was he not run until much later? For appearance sake? If Massey was the target, they may have wanted to appear diligent in all respects, and, at least, run Foerster, one of only two witnesses to the “crime”.

A final thought with regard to what appears to be a major screw up; the government first attempted to make it appear that Massey had no right, under Texas law, to be on the Sabal Palms property with a weapon. Obviously, they were unaware that he had just come from reaching an agreement with Mr. Aguilar that did allow that land to be included in the “premises”, according to Texas law. Via sworn testimony, they attempted to convert “public” land to be construed as any land the public can go on, and apply that construction to a private nature preserve, Sabal Palms.

I’m certain there are many more facts that have been withheld from the defense, and I am equally certain that as those facts are eventually produced, the likelihood of Prosecutor Hagen receiving an Award from Department of Justice for successful prosecution is about as remote as his chances of going to Heaven.