QAnon backer accused of firing paintball rounds at soldiers

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Authorities say a QAnon supporter arrested Friday for allegedly firing paintball rounds at two reservists in a Milwaukee suburb recently traveled to Washington, D.C. and promised violence there.

Prosecutors say Ian Alan Olson, 31, of Nashotah, drove a car spray-painted with QAnon slogans to the Wisconsin Army Reserve Center in Pewaukee on March 15 and shouted, “This is for America” before firing two or three paintball rounds at the soldiers. His gun then jammed.

The rounds did not hit the reservists, one of whom tackled Olson and held him to the ground until police arrived.

Olson is charged in federal court with attacking U.S. servicemen on account of their service and assaulting officers. He is charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court with two misdemeanor counts of attempted battery and one count of disorderly conduct, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Olson’s public defender could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Federal court documents accuse Olson of telling intake staff at the Waukesha County Jail that he had just returned from Washington, where he failed to deliver his message. He allegedly said he would cause a “mass casualty” event and that people would remember his name.

“I am ready for this. How many people need to die for a message to get across,” he said, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors said Olson owns armor-piercing bullets and several guns.