Aryan Nations Member Arrested After Standoff with Police
Posted: May 25, 2004
Zachary Loren Beck, a member of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations, was arrested in Longview, Washington, for allegedly shooting at police officers during a standoff at his home.
The standoff ended without injury on May 14, 2004, after Beck surrendered. After he was taken into custody, police searched his home and found a computer in his bedroom filled with files of white supremacist literature. Beck, 25, is being held in jail in lieu of $400,000 bond and faces charges of first-degree assault, first-degree burglary, felony harassment and fourth-degree assault.
In 2003, Beck was one of three Aryan Nations members to run for public office in Hayden, Idaho, where the group is headquartered. Beck and Karl Gharst ran for seats on the Hayden City Council and Aryan Nations’ 86-year-old founder, Richard Butler, ran for Mayor. All three lost their races – Beck getting 69 votes. While running for office, Beck was arrested for allegedly attacking a Hispanic man in a parking lot. He was charged with malicious harassment, which is a hate crime in Idaho, and is currently awaiting trial.
Since its founding, Aryan Nations has been involved in more criminal incidents than any other neo-Nazi group in the United States. One member, Karl Gharst, was arrested in Hayden, Idaho, for allegedly threatening to kill a social worker in Montana. Another member, Sean Michael Gillespie, was arrested in Russellville, Arkansas, for allegedly trying to firebomb a synagogue in Oklahoma City. On April 28, 2004, a jury in Kootenai County, Idaho, found Aryan Nations member Shaun Patrick Winkler guilty of battery and two counts of injuring a child.
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