Woburn police release new details outlining former officer’s role in deadly Charlottesville rally

Frank O'Laughlin
·2 min read

Officials on Friday released new details on a former Woburn police officer’s involvement with an alleged white supremacist group during the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Officer John Donnelly, who was resigned from the Woburn Police Department earlier this week after being placed on leave earlier this month, “violated multiple department policies through involvement in extremist groups,” Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin and Woburn Police Chief Robert F. Rufo Jr. said in a joint news release.

Galvin and Rufo called for an internal affairs investigation after learning of Donnelly alleged role in planning and attending the rally, which included white nationalists, neo-Nazi groups, and members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The investigation found the following, according to Galvin and Rufo:

  • Donnelly went under the alias Johnny O’Malley in person and online.

  • Donnelly did indeed attend, help plan and provide security for leadership of the Charlottesville event.

  • Donnelly was found to associate himself with Identity Evropa, described by the Anti-Defamation League as “a white supremacist group focused on the preservation of ‘white American culture’” and promoting white European identity” that recruited largely on college campuses. The group changed its name to the American Identity Movement after the Charlottesville rally and later disbanded.

  • Donnelly used racist and antisemitic language.

  • Donnelly was seen in photographs as part of the security detail for Richard Spencer, described by the ADL as a white nationalist alt-right leader who was a promoter and scheduled speaker at the Charlottesville event.

The findings have been submitted to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission with the recommendation that Donnelly be de-certified and be no longer eligible to work as a police officer in Massachusetts.

Participants in the rally carried weapons and chanted racist and anti-Semitic slogans. A woman died and many others were hurt when a car drove into a group of counter-protesters.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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