Federal judge sentences Twin Cities man who bought machine gun parts, spoke of mass killings
Defense attorney says River Smith had a variety of psychological disorders
A Twin Cities man received a nearly seven-year sentence in federal prison after he was caught buying machine gun parts and phony grenades from someone who turned out to be an FBI informant.
Federal prosecutors say River William Smith, 21, of Savage idolized mass shooters and was preparing for a violent exchange with police. Smith’s defense attorney countered that the government’s accusations are wildly exaggerated.
The government’s case relied on informants, recorded jail phone calls and observations by witnesses.
According to the government, in 2022, a retired police officer was teaching a class at a gun range when he spotted Smith wearing heavy body armor and performing rapid reload drills.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The shooting instructor said Smith was going through an excessive amount of ammunition, about 300 rounds in 20 minutes. A gun club manager in Prior Lake reported similarly unusual conduct.
The FBI tailed Smith, and about six weeks later they spotted Smith’s grandmother drive him to the range. She waited in the car while her grandson entered wearing tactical clothing and a full-face Punisher mask — a symbol that’s associated with violent far-right groups. Those actions weren’t illegal, but they raised concern.
A confidential source working for the FBI engaged with Smith on social media. In these conversations, he allegedly revealed that he was preparing for a violent exchange with police, sympathized with the Parkland, Fla. school shooter and said he was “pro mass shooting in general.”
At the range, Smith met a second informant who wore a wire and said he was preparing to fight police. At a subsequent meeting, Smith gave the informant a down payment for an auto sear, a device to convert his otherwise legal AR-15 rifle into an illegal machine gun. He also expressed interest in joining a neo-Nazi paramilitary group and buying hand grenades, according to prosecutors.
That December, Smith met up with the informant again at a convenience store parking lot and bought three grenades and three auto sears for $690. That’s when FBI agents arrested him. The grenades were fake.
Prosecutors charged Smith with machine gun possession and attempting to possess destructive devices.
Smith pleaded guilty to the machine gun count without a plea agreement with prosecutors. Ahead of the hearing in May, defense attorney Jordan Kushner argued in a filing that attempting to possess grenades is a “non-existent offense.” Prosecutors dropped that count at the plea hearing, but they still sought a 10-year sentence on the machine gun count — the statutory maximum. The government argued that Smith “presents a unique danger to the public.”
At Smith’s sentencing hearing Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Winter pointed to a 2022 video that Smith made in which he allegedly described the Mall of America as a “shooting range” and noted that in jail phone calls to his mother and grandmother from jail Smith allegedly said he would never accept he did anything wrong, even after entering a guilty plea.
The prosecuting attorney said Smith intended to retaliate against police for seizing guns from his home in 2019. That followed an incident in which Smith, at age 17, fired a rifle indoors and indirectly injured his grandmother who cut her hand on a shattered doorknob.
Kushner argued that the sentence should be based on Smith’s conduct, not what he said in phone calls and wrote in online messages. The defense attorney said Smith is socially isolated and has a variety of psychological disorders due in part to abuse he suffered as a child. Kushner said the online statements were intended as “shock humor” and characterized the FBI’s actions as “partial entrapment.”
U.S. District Judge David Doty spoke at length about his reasons for handing Smith an 80-month sentence.
The judge rejected the government’s request for a terrorism departure, but Doty called Smith’s behavior “egregious given the number of weapons and large amount of ammunition” that the FBI found when he was arrested. Doty added that Smith’s actions were aggravated by his lack of remorse and acceptance of responsibility and his “chilling promises to reoffend.”
Kushner said after the hearing that Smith plans to appeal the sentence.