Arizona Man Indicted for Planning Mass Shooting at Bad Bunny's Atlanta Concerts in Attempt to Incite 'Race War' (UPDATE)

UPDATED 6/14, 11:10 a.m. ET: Mark Adams Prieto, the Arizona man who planned a mass shooting to incite a “race war,” may have been plotting to carry out his plan at Bad Bunny’s concerts in Atlanta, Georgia.

As noted by NBC News, the U.S. Department of Justice did not provide specifics in its statement about which artist or venue Prieto had targeted. However, the dates of the shows, May 14 and 15, are a match for concerts the 30-year-old Puerto Rican superstar held for his Most Wanted Tour at the State Farm Arena.

See original story below.

Arizona man Mark Adams Prieto has been indicted by a federal grand jury over his plans for a mass shooting in Atlanta that he hoped would incite a race war.

As reported by WSB-TV, Mark Adams Prieto is facing federal charges after a months-long FBI investigation found that he was selling firearms to individuals hoping to incite a race war in the lead-up to the 2024 Presidential Election. The investigation into Prieto began in October 2023 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation received a tip from a source who said he "expressed a desire to incite a race war prior to the 2024 United States Presidential Election."

Over the past three years, the source spoke with Prieto at multiple gun shows where he expressed worrying sentiments regarding politics, race, and religion. His comments to the source reportedly became increasingly "suspicious and alarming," including at least one occasion in which he advocated for "a mass shooting, and specifically targeting ‘Blacks, Jews or Muslims.’"

Prieto asked the source in 2023 if they were "ready to kill a bunch of people." Per the affidavit following Prieto's arrest in May, "Prieto believes that martial law will be implemented shortly after the 2024 election and that a mass shooting should occur prior to the implementation of martial law." Prieto has been accused of recruiting people for a mass shooting in Atlanta.

"Prieto divulged his plan to commit crimes of violence against African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia," reads the affidavit. Prieto was under surveillance by the FBI from January to March this year, which included keeping tabs on him at a gun show in Prescott, Arizona, where he divulged that he makes "off book" trades for his firearms to "avoid possible issues or interactions with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives."

As for why he wanted to target Atlanta, he said it was because it was "such a fucked up state" now. "When I was a kid that was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why is it not now? Because as the crime got worse in L.A., St. Louis, and all these other cities, all the [expletives] moved out of those (places) and moved to Atlanta," he said, per the affidavit. "That’s why it isn’t so great anymore. And they’ve been there for a couple, several years."

He hoped to carry out the proposed attack at a hip-hop concert because, as he put it, "there would be a high concentration of African Americans."

He told undercover agents and the FBI source that he wanted to leave Confederate flags at the scene of the shooting so that "every whitey will be the enemy across the whole country." He also said that his targets were "not people," and instead "monsters."

During an encounter at a gun show in February, he told the source that he was to shout "KKK all the way" during the attack. During the same month, he sold a firearm to an undercover agent for $2,000. He was arrested in May, which was when he originally intended to carry out the attack.

Prieto was stopped by law enforcement driving east from Arizona through New Mexico along Interstate 40. "Prieto was in possession of seven firearms and was taken into federal custody," said the Department of Justice in a statement. "Law enforcement then executed a search warrant at his home in Prescott. Law enforcement found more firearms in his residence, including an unregistered short-barreled rifle."

He's facing charges of firearm trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime, and possession of an unregistered firearm. The hate crime charge could net him 15 years behind bars.