Locals reportedly trap family of campers after mistaking them for antifa

A multiracial family looking to get away for the weekend were allegedly stalked, and subsequently trapped, by locals who mistook them for being bussed-in members of antifa, Washington state's Peninsula Daily News reports.

The family of four — a husband, wife, their 16-year-old daughter, and the husband's mother — were visiting Forks, Washington, from Spokane, Washington, and had driven the seven-and-a-half-hour distance in a full-sized school bus they planned to use to camp off a logging road near Olympic National Park. The family stopped at Forks Outfitters to get supplies, and were confronted by "seven or eight carloads of people in the grocery store parking lot" who "repeatedly asked them if they were antifa protesters," according to a press release by Sgt. Ed Anderson. "The family told the people they weren't associated with any such group and were just camping."

When the family left the parking lot, they were trailed by "at least four vehicles," the Peninsula Daily News reports. The family said that "two of the vehicles had people in them carrying what appeared to be semi-automatic rifles."

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The family reached their camp site, but the sound of gunshots and power saws down the road made them decide to leave. As they were trying to drive away, they found that someone had sawed down trees in order to trap them in the site so that they couldn't get out.

Local high schoolers helped clear the roadway for the family and the Clallam County Sheriff's Office is reportedly investigating the incident. Heavy reports that posts had been made in local Facebook groups referencing the event, including boasts of "protect your town!" and "u think they realized they [came] to the wrong place yet?" You can read more at Peninsula Daily News, and learn more about the spread of false rumors about antifa agitators here at The Week.