A man who allegedly streamed live on Facebook as he drove around Texarkana looking for a police officer to kill is scheduled to face a jury this week at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston.
Aaron Swenson, 38, is charged with attempted capital murder of a police officer, attempted murder and terroristic threats with a hate crime enhancement. If convicted of the attempted capital murder charge, Swenson faces up to life in prison.
A jury of seven women and five men was selected Tuesday in proceedings before 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison. Testimony is scheduled to begin Wednesday morning.
Swenson came to the attention of law enforcement because of his social media activity and alleged affiliation with the extremist anti-government “Boogaloo Bois” or “Bugaloo” group. According to a probable cause affidavit, Texarkana, Texas, police had received a notice about Swenson a couple of months before he began livestreaming on Facebook that he intended to kill a police officer the night of April 11, 2020.
Police were notified by multiple callers that in the live feed, a man said he was driving in the Texarkana area searching for a police officer alone so that he could ambush them.
Officers were able to view the live video feed and quickly determined that he was driving a late model black Chevrolet truck in the area of St. Michael Drive just west of I-369. At one point, the man could be heard saying in the video that he had just passed an officer on the service road but was having to turn around to go get him.
Several officers responded to the area and located a similar vehicle as it turned onto Kings Highway from St. Michael Drive. The driver pulled into the Sonic parking lot on Kings Highway but immediately fled at a high rate of speed when the officers activated their emergency lights. Officers pursued the vehicle as it turned onto Hampton Road and headed toward the Redlick community. An officer anticipated the route Swenson was likely to take and deployed the spike system near the intersection of Shiloh and Leary Roads, which immediately deflated one of Swenson’s tires. Swenson came to a stop on Highway 82 in Hooks.
Swenson allegedly sat in his vehicle with music blaring and ignored officers’ commands to exit. After approximately 25 minutes, Swenson reportedly stepped out of his vehicle and surrendered.
Swenson is being held in the Bowie County jail. Bond is set at $1 million.
