Investigators say suspects in Lynnwood hate crime are "self-professed members of neo-Nazi skinhead group"

SNOHOMISH COUNTY  --  A group of people accused of carrying out a brutal hate crime in Snohomish County made their first court appearance Monday.  The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office says they are members of a Neo-Nazi skinhead group.  Two of the suspects are from Western Washington.

We don’t usually name suspects until they’re officially charged but, in this case, the FBI is involved and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office says each of these suspects are “self-professed members of a neo-Nazi skinhead group”.  Some of them have very violent criminal backgrounds and we feel it’s our duty to share all of this information with you.

Investigators are calling it a “ disgusting” incident.  According to court documents, the group entered the Rec Room Bar and Grill in Lynnwood, tried to take over the DJ's equipment, then beat him while shouting racial slurs.  General Manager, Jayson Baum, says he was injured after trying to help the DJ.

“There was a very aggressive group directing their aggression towards one individual,” says Baum.

Court documents say the eight suspects, seven men and one woman, are affiliated with the Aryan brotherhood.  Seven of them appeared in court today, by video, from the Snohomish County Jail in Everett.

Including Guy Miller, 37, of Tacoma.  Miller has been convicted of multiple felonies including assault, firearm possession and burglary.

Vincent B. Nutter, 28, of Bothell.  Nutter has a lengthy criminal history in Washington which includes drug and gun offenses. In 2013, police arrested him following a manhunt that involved helicopters and police dogs. He eventually climbed 40 feet into a Douglas Fir tree and surrendered only after firefighters blasted him with a fire hose.  He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Randy A. Smith, 38, of Eugene, Oregon.

Daniel Dorson, 23, of Corvallis, Oregon.

Nathaniel Woodell, 32, of Woodstock, Illinois.

Leah Northcraft, 25, of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Travis David Condor, who is allegedly affiliated with the violent extremist group ‘Hammerskins’, according to Heidi Beirich, who tracks hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Beirich says the 'Hammerskins' were part of the violent Charlottesville riots last year.

Cory Colwell, 34, of Eugene, Oregon did not appear today.

Investigators believe the suspects were in Washington State to mark the anniversary of the death of ‘white supremacist leader’, Robert Jay Mathews.  Mathews died in a shootout with the FBI on Whidbey Island in 1984. His followers refer to the anniversary as "Martyr's Day."