MILWAUKEE — A grand jury has charged a community activist with three new counts in his alleged connection to the Sherman Park unrest in August 2016.
Vaun Mayes was indicted for plotting to use homemade firebombs to burn down a Milwaukee Police district and witness tampering.
The counts also include conspiring with others to damage two homes in West Allis, coordinating with others to riot and make Molotov cocktails, knowingly creating and possessing Molotov cocktails, teaching others, including minors, how to make Molotov cocktails and instructing others to create a false story for law enforcement.
Mayes, who also goes by Vaun, was previously indicted on three charges in July 2018. He pleaded not guilty.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said in court documents this plot was after the shooting of Sylville Smith in August 2016 by Milwaukee Police Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown.
According to the criminal complaint, two days after the shooting Mayes was seen "wearing gloves and filling the bottles with gasoline, dipping ripped shirts into a bowl of gasoline, and placing the soaked fabric into the tops of the bottles."
Mayes is known for his community involvement. According to investigators, "some of the youth who participate in Mayes' 'Program the Parks' were present for the manufacturing of the Molotov cocktails and were asked to throw rocks at the police."
The court documents say the plot against the police was called off because Mayes and others feared too many people knew about it. The firebombing never happened.
