Antifa Member Accused of Shooting Proud Boys Member in Daylight Clash

Tusitala Toese, a member of the Proud Boys, in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 22, 2021. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP via Getty Images

A member of the far-left, anarcho-communist Antifa network allegedly shot a member of an opposing group over the weekend during a clash in Washington state.

Tusitala Toese, known as Tiny, was struck in the foot on Sept. 4 in Olympia, according to photographs, video footage, and city officials.

Toese is a leader in the Proud Boys, a right-wing group that has engaged in violence, and whose national leader was recently sentenced to time in prison after pleading guilty to crimes in Washington, D.C.

The shooting came during clashes between the Proud Boys and members of Antifa, a far-left network of groups whose members have repeatedly assaulted people, attacked law enforcement, and set fire to buildings.

Antifa members planned to disrupt an anti-COVID-19 vaccine protest in the area but were confronted by Proud Boys members blocks away from the demonstration, one independent reporter said. Video footage showed Antifa members retreating, with Proud Boys members pursuing them.

The same groups had clashed in Portland, Oregon, two weekends prior.

A “verbal altercation” preceded the shooting, Olympia City Manager Jay Burney said in a statement.

“A member of one of the groups then produced a handgun and fired several shots, and a member of the other group was struck in the ankle,” he said.

The city is aware that one of the groups was reported to be the Proud Boys and the other was part of the Antifa network.

The shots were fired in broad daylight on a city street. No police officers were visible when the shooting occurred.

The Olympia Police Department said in a brief statement that it is investigating; the probe includes a review of security camera footage, according to Burney. Toese was taken to a hospital and his injury was not deemed life-threatening. He is said to be cooperating with authorities. Police asked anyone with information to contact them.

In a statement, the Proud Boys said Toese was shot by “an unknown member of the communist group Antifa while he and other Proud Boys were protecting men, women, and children who were attending an anti-mask and forced vaccination rally to end tyranny imposed by Washington Governor ‘King’ Jay Inslee.”

The group urged its members not to engage in any “retaliatory actions at this time.”

Antifa-linked accounts on social media, meanwhile, celebrated the shooting.

“Someone make sure the comrade who shot Tiny is ok and buy them dinner,” one wrote.

Another urged whoever recorded footage of the shooting not to release it.

“This person is already fighting a Reinhoel [sic] situation, let’s not add doxxing and retaliation to their list of worries,” she wrote.

Michael Reinoehl, a member of Antifa and the suspect in the slaying of a Patriot Prayer supporter in Portland in 2020, was shot dead while resisting arrest.

William Barr, the U.S. attorney general at the time, said the tracking down of Reinoehl, who was wanted for murder, was “a significant accomplishment in the ongoing effort to restore law and order to Portland and other cities.”