Eugene Police detectives are continuing to work the May 29/30 riot case and make arrests. Today, while a detective was on an unrelated call for service at Safeway, 145 E. 18th Avenue, he noticed a suspect in the riot case, Azariah Michael Klote, age 22, of Eugene. The detective contacted Klote during a traffic stop while Klote was leaving Safeway. Klote was lodged at the Lane County Jail on charges of Riot, Burglary in the Second Degree, and Theft in the First Degree for his role in the case. He was also arrested on unrelated warrants.
This is the 30th arrest in the case and investigators report there are more arrests pending.
This investigation is ongoing and EPD’s Special Investigations Unit has been able to identify a significant number of other suspects and is actively working to locate them for contact. SIU also is continuing to review large amounts of evidence and is investigating the suspects whose identities are not yet known.
Additional arrests are anticipated. Investigators are asking for the public’s help to identify suspects, provide any information regarding other rioters involved in this incident as well as photos or videos of the incident that attendees may have taken and are willing to provide. The attached PDF contains suspect images. The TIP line is 541-262-5388.
https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/60236/Updated-May-2020-Riot-Suspect-ID-list-revised21620
Background:
On the night of Friday, May 29, and into the morning of Saturday, May 30, a peaceful protest in downtown Eugene devolved into a riot. While not everyone who participated in the original peaceful protest participated in the riot, several hundred individuals participated in widespread damage to property, burglary, robbery, assault, arson and other violent crimes. This was predominately centered around the intersection of 7th Avenue and Washington Street where the businesses sustained extensive damage and loss.
Since that time, members of the Special Investigations Unit have been conducting an investigation into these incidents with the goal to identify those who engaged in the crimes and arrest those individuals for the crimes committed. This continues to be a lengthy investigation, which requires reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance video along with available social media posts. Ultimately, detectives have been able to identify and arrests suspects.