Married Couple Who Shot and Pepper Sprayed Milo Yiannopoulos Protestors Charged With Assault

Anti-fascist demonstrators and Milo Yiannopoulos supporters gathered in Red Square at the University of Washington's Seattle campus the evening of Donald Trump's inauguration. Sean Nelson

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On January 20, anti-fascist demonstrators and fans of the now-reviled Milo Yiannopoulos clashed outside the University of Washington's Kane Hall. Elizabeth Hokoana, 29, allegedly shot Josh Dukes, a protestor, in the abdomen during the clash. She claimed she fired the gun out of fear for her husband's life.

Today, King County prosecutors charged Hokoana with first-degree assault "with a firearm enhancement," The Seattle Times reports. Her husband, Marc Hokoana, 29, was charged with third-degree assault "for allegedly using pepper-spray in the crowd just before the shooting."

In court documents, prosecutors said the shooting “was not an impulsive act done in a moment of fear.” Evidence in the charging papers “demonstrates that the defendants went to the event at the UW campus with the intent to provoke altercations with protesters who they knew would be at this controversial event,” wrote Senior Deputy Prosecutor Mary Barbosa. “The defendants created a situation designed to allow Elizabeth Hokoana to shoot the victim in the middle of an extremely crowded event under the guise of defending her or her husband,” Barbosa wrote. Support The Stranger More than ever, we depend on your support to help fund our coverage. Support local, independent media with a one-time or recurring donation. Thank you!

In the Hokoanas' charging documents, officials with the University of Washington Police Department wrote that they obtained a warrant to search Marc's Facebook page. Here's what they found:

On January 19, 2017 Marc HOKOANA and [REDACTED] sent messages back and forth thru their Facebook accounts. At approximately 11:31 am Marc HOKOANA sent a message to [REDACTED] stating “I can’t wait for tomorrow, I’m going to the Milo event and if the snowflakes get out off hand I’m just going to wade through their ranks and start cracking skulls.” [REDACTED] responded “[REDACTED] do it”. At approximately 11:36 [REDACTED] asked Marc HOKOANA over Facebook “God you gonna carry?”. Mar responded “Nah, I’m going full melee”. Marc followed up with the comment “Lily it’s” and shortly stated “Is*”, [REDACTED] replied by saying “GET EM” and followed up with “just don’t end up in jail”. It was later learned that Elizabeth HOKOANA goes by “Lily.”

In a joint statement provided to the Times, the Hokoanas' attorneys said that they "look forward to presenting our case to a jury and we anticipate an acquittal."