Police have taken into custody a man accused of spraying with bear spray a group of activists training for nonviolent confrontations. Turns out, he’s a heavy metal rocker, whose band supposedly once opened for Metallica.
On April 21, a group of “resistance” activists, who were learning how to be arrested and possibly pepper-sprayed by police, got that lesson front-loaded when a man walked into the Church of Love on Spenard Road and opened up a can of bear spray on them. The participants were injured and had to evacuate the building.
Police reviewed video and then put out a warrant for Bret Maness, a 53-year-old rocker with a long rap sheet that includes domestic violence and a list of minor offenses.
Five years ago, Alaska Public Media featured him prominently in a short video about heavy metal rockers, when he said he was a “godfather” of heavy metal music in Alaska.
Maness faces multiple charges including Assault 4, Burglary 2, and Terroristic Threatening 1.
The Southern Poverty Law Center lists him as white supremacist in this story.
The group that was attacked was being trained by a teacher from the Anchorage public schools, and were getting ready for nonviolent confrontation in May, with protests related to various grievances. Most of those who attacked were white middle aged women taking part in the training that was led by high school teacher Soren Wuerth.
