Various media are reporting that a 45-year-old Florida man, Jerry Kane, and his 16-year-old son, Joe, were killed by police at the end of a police search that began with the slaying of two police officers on I-40 in West Memphis. State Police have not revealed identities yet. The older man is said to have had a business advising people how to avoid mortgage foreclosures.

The Commercial Appeal story linked above quotes the older man’s common-law wife as identifying the two and disputing any connection with Aryan Nation activities, despite a linkage of the van to a previous owner with such ties. She said Kane traveled with an AK-47 because he liked to take it to local shooting ranges. The CA article includes a link to an interview with Kane about a recent runin with police on a New Mexico traffic stop (he referred to them as Nazis.)

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Friends have also posted news of his death on his personal website.  You can access his own page on that website using the password “makeme.” This part of the page has been taken down.

There are many clips of Kane on YouTube delivering talks on fighting foreclosures. The Commerical Appeal noted:

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In a YouTube video purported to be from an Aug. 2, 2009, all-day seminar in Fontana, Calif., Jerry Kane discusses his views on violence after a question about a “rogue” IRS agent.

“Violence doesn’t solve anything, OK. It’s not violence that we’re after. The Bible even tells us that if you’re going to go and make war against somebody, you have to have to kill their sheep and their goats and their chickens and their babies and their wives. OK? You have to kill them all. So what we’re after here is not fighting, it’s conquering. I don’t want to have to kill anybody, but if they keep messing with me, that’s what it’s going to have to come out. That’s what it’s going to come down to, is I’m going to have to kill. And if I have to kill one, then I’m not going to be able to stop, I just know it. I mean I have an addictive personality. I haven’t had a drink in 18 years because I can’t handle this shit.”

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The Southern Poverty Law Center explores Kane’s ties to the Patriot and “redemption” movements (such ideas as one that only gold and silver are real money).

It’s not yet known what connection Kane and his son, Joseph Taylor Kane, may have had to Tabor or Aryan Nations. What is clear, however, is that the elder Kane was involved in a world of Patriot conspiracy theories and had spent much time traveling the country and teaching them to others.

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Conflicts between so-called sovereign citizens and law enforcement are common, probably because such people do not believe they need driver’s licenses or vehicle registrations and so are often pulled over. In June 1995, for instance, a Frazeyburg, Ohio, police officer shot and killed Michael Hill, a sovereign citizen activist. Hill tried to shoot the officer after being pulled over.

Here’s Memphis TV video of the aftermath of the final shootout.

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UPDATE: The State Police has confirmed the identities, but is saying little else. See jump.

The Anti-Defamation League has also taken note of Kane’s ties to anti-government movements.

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