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A 22-year-old woman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was charged on Tuesday after allegedly inciting a riot and encouraging her friends to loot and destroy businesses during a violent protest, according to multiple reports.
According to an affidavit, Alexandria “Ally” Lyons was “heard multiple times encouraging her friends and others to throw bricks or other objects at windows of multiple businesses downtown and at one point picks up a brick herself and mentions heading ‘back to the courthouse,’” reported MLive Michigan.
Lyons was also allegedly heard encouraging others to break into ATM machines, jewelry stores, and asking her friends to grab golden bracelets from the smashed displays.
Surveillance footage shows Lyons kicking and breaking into the window of a county building located on 82 Ionia Avenue NW, which is also the building that the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office is in, reported the news outlet.
Alexandria Lyons in a booking photo. (Kent County Sheriff’s Department)After the riot, she posted a video at her home, where she was holding a party. She was surrounded by suspected looted goods from various clothing, jewelry, and other stores. It was also suspected that she, along with her friends, stole beer from Mojo’s Dueling Piano Bar and Restaurant.
According to Fox News, the raid she allegedly participated in took place over the weekend, between the night of May 30 and early morning of May 31, and resulted in the destruction of around 100 businesses. In addition, seven patrol cars were lit on fire—five of which belonged to the Wyoming Department of Public Safety, and the other two belonged to the Grand Rapids Police Department.
MLive Michigan also reported that dumpsters were set on fire, which spread to other buildings in the area.
Several people called authorities about Lyons’s involvement in the riot, telling the police that the 22-year-old was responsible for causing so much damage in the downtown area at the time of the riot.
Lyons was arraigned in the Grand Rapids District Court on Tuesday. She was charged with inciting a riot—which has a maximum sentence of 10 years, as well as malicious destruction of property—a felony charge, which holds a maximum sentence of five years, according to the news outlet.
She is currently being held on a $40,000 bond, according to MLive Michigan.
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