Army Sergeant Daniel Perry was convicted of murder Friday stemming from an incident in which he shot dead Garrett Foster, an armed Black Lives Matter demonstrator. In July 2020—while driving for a ride-sharing app—Perry’s path crossed with BLM protesters in downtown Austin, which led to several honks being heard on a Facebook stream of the confrontation ahead of gunfire ringing out. In March 2023, when the trial began, it was revealed that Perry had previously sent messages to buddies talking about killing demonstrators. “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they are rioting outside my apartment complex,” Perry wrote in June 2020, according to prosecutors. Perry and his lawyers maintain that he acted in self-defense and he now awaits sentencing, facing the possibility of life behind bars.
