A federal grand jury has indicted Arizona resident Mark Adams Prieto on charges of firearms trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime, and possession of an unregistered firearm — all in relation to his plan to stage a mass shooting at a Bad Bunny concert, NBC News reports.
According to authorities, Prieto had been looking to "incite a race war" ahead of this year's US presidential election. His indictment on Tuesday (June 11) followed a months-long investigation that resulted in the FBI arresting the 58-year-old last month ahead of the Atlanta, GA, dates of Bad Bunny's North American tour behind Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana that he had planned to target.
Back in October, an informant told the FBI that Prieto was looking to start a race war, having allegedly talked to him more than fifteen times at gun shows — where he was a vendor — over the course of three years. In the last year, Prieto had repeatedly been "advocating for a mass shooting," specifically targeting Black people, Jews, and/or Muslims, as per the affidavit.
"Prieto believes that martial law will be implemented shortly after the 2024 election and that a mass shooting should occur prior," the informant said, with Prieto having allegedly asked him in late 2023 if they were "ready to kill a bunch of people."
While under the FBI's surveillance, Prieto allegedly tried to recruit both the informant and an undercover FBI agent to help him plot a mass shooting at an Atlanta rap concert while selling them guns, figuring there would be a lot of Black people there; he wanted a high body count and planned to leave Confederate flags behind as a message.
On May 14, the date of the first Bad Bunny show in Atlanta, Prieto was arrested on the New Mexico Interstate. He admitted to discussing plans for a mass shooting at a public venue in Atlanta like a "rock" concert attended by young people and minorities, but claimed he hadn't actually planned on going through with it. Prieto also admitted to selling an AR-15 to the undercover agent and telling him that the firearm would be good for use in such an attack.