Ever since the not-guilty verdict announcement concerning the 2016 death of Philando Castile was announced, the fight against police brutality has gone to another level. There were, of course, protests on the streets, but one person decided to fight the fight using their keyboard.
According to The Daily Beast, a man believed to be “Vigilance,” a hacker who immediately tweeted a plan to hack Minnesota government and Minnesota State University websites following the acquittal of police officer Jeronimo Yanez, has had his home raided by the FBI.
“I thought I had to do something against what I found to be unjust,” the hacker said after sending the tweet, Motherboard reported at the time. “This was a failure of justice. And his family won’t get the satisfaction of knowing the one who killed Philando is rightly punished.”
As Vigilance promised, Minnesota government and education websites were hacked. Email addresses and other information Vigilance found during the hack were posted online.
Minnesota State University, one of the institutions affected by the hack, released a statement that outlined its response, which included changing all of its users' passwords.
The man the FBI believes to be Vigilance, is under investigation for his potential role in the hacking, but charges have not yet been filed.
“They knocked, cleared the house with their guns,” said the man suspected to be Vigilance.
That “they” is the FBI and State of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) officials, who, according to the man, seized his laptop and other electronic devices.
FBI Special Agent E.K. Wilson confirmed that the man is under investigation.
Vigilance has already gone after over two dozen Minnesota databases, according to The Star Tribune. But although a man is under investigation, the hacker may be far from done.