Samantha Shader, a 27-year-old white woman, was arrested on charges of throwing Molotov cocktails at an NYPD vehicle occupied by four officers at a protest following the death of George Floyd in late May. She faces charges including use of explosives to commit a felony, arson, and use of a destructive device.
Shader’s actions were caught on tape and she admitted to throwing the makeshift explosive but claimed three “Black” strangers had approached her on the street and given her the bottle. But this past Friday, July 3, police arrested a white man who admitted to federal authorities he’d given Shader the materials for the firebomb. Timothy Amerman, a 29-year-old painter, now faces up to 10 years of prison time if he is convicted on charges of civil disorder or civil disorder conspiracy.
Although Shader’s story about a group of Black people giving her the Molotov cocktail gear is false, her account of the encounter is fairly detailed. She said the man who gave her the bottle was a “thicker guy’ with his hair in “skinny dreads,” of different colors. She said the second man was wearing a hat and that the woman who was with them had “poofy” hair. Shader says she felt important at the time because she was the only white person around, and took the bottle.
No one in the police vehicle Shader targeted was injured, and the officers escaped the van to apprehend her. Prosecutors say Shader bit an officer’s leg as they took her into custody.
Upon searching Shader’s vehicle, police found a note with Amerman’s fingerprints on it that said: “I found a few more glass bottles than I thought I had, though still not many. I’m giving you my mask in hopes that helps. Wish I had more. There’s also a bag in here for you. BE SAFE Please. Really Good Luck, – Love Tim.”
Amerman told police he gave Shader “projectiles to throw at police and counter-protesters.”
According to federal agencies, the accomplices regularly post anti-police memes on Facebook. Shader posted that “Black people should be allowed to burn down the country thew built for free, and Amerman said in a post from late May that cops are “Tax collectors with guns. Wife beaters. Murderers.”
Amerman is currently being held in Albany, New York, as he waits to face his charges, and Shader, who has been arrested 11 times before, faces life in prison.
