ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — New details regarding an arrest made during a June peaceful protest in St. Petersburg, interrupted by the police becoming the target for a thrown projectile, have emerged in a police report.
The St. Petersburg Police Department says Abraham Naveed Quraishi, 26, the individual accused of throwing the "spent baton round" at Chief Anthony Holloway and a group of majors, also had concerning videos on his phone.
Executing a search warrant on his phone, police found videos from May 26 to June 2 showing the construction and testing of a molotov cocktail, Quraishi with a rifle near police headquarters, pointing a firearm in the direction of an unmarked car and "apparent reconnaissance" from a high vantage point of police headquarters.
Quraishi's initial arrest came during an evening protest as police asked a group of people to get onto the sidewalk to open 1st Avenue N. to traffic.
Police said the culprit, Abraham Naveed Quraishi, 26, of Lakeland, also had a loaded gun in his waistband. According to police, he does not have a concealed weapons permit.
Quraishi, who reportedly fought several officers as they tried to arrest him, faces charges for inciting a riot, resisting an officer with violence, carrying a concealed firearm while in commission of a felony and unlawful assembly.
But the developments, in this case, do not stop with Quraishi's arrest, according to a police report. Once in jail police say Quraishi made a call to his uncle asking him to have his car, parked by the barricades, towed.
According to an affidavit, the car ended up in Pinellas Park where the area police department executed a search. Inside they found what appeared to be the molotov cocktail Quraishi posted in the videos on his phone.
St. Pete police expressed concern saying if Quraishi "was not arrested, there is reason to believe [Quraishi] was going to discharge the device." There were 30 to 40 protesters and officers in the area at the time, according to police.
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