Arizona gun nut planned to hoist Confederate flag and shoot up Bad Bunny concert to 'incite a race war' ahead of 2024 election

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An Arizona gun nut wanted to 'incite a race war' ahead of the presidential election by shooting up a Bad Bunny concert in Atlanta and planting Confederate flags, it has been revealed.

Mark Adams Prieto, 58, of Prescott, was arrested last month traveling on an interstate in New Mexico - after spending months planning the mass shooting at the State Farm Arena with an undercover FBI agent and his informant.

He targeted Atlanta for its large black population and had planned for the three of them to open fire at the arena on May 14 and 15 - when Bad Bunny was scheduled to perform - and leave behind Confederate flags while shouting 'KKK all the way' and 'whities out here killing, what's we gonna do,' according to an affidavit released Tuesday.

Prieto even allegedly told the undercover agent he wanted to send a message that 'we're going to fight back now, and every whitey will be the enemy across the whole country.' 

Mark Adams Prieto, 58, allegedly planned to shoot up a Bad Bunny concert in Atlanta to 'incite a race war'

FBI agents said they first started investigating Prieto in late 2023, after an informant who had spoken to the gun nut at previous gun shows noticed that he began to make some suspicious and alarming comments - including asking him whether he was 'ready to kill a bunch of people' and saying he wanted to target 'blacks, Jews or Muslims.'

The informant told agents Prieto believed martial law would be implemented shortly after the 2024 presidential election, and specifically told the informant he wanted 'to incite a race war' before then.

By the end of January, the informant introduced an undercover agent to Prieto at the Crossroads of the West gun show in his hometown, where the suspect was selling his personal firearms - admitting that he would only take cash to avoid any interference from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

He then allegedly proceeded to ask the two if they would help him carry out a shooting in Atlanta - bemoaning its large black population.

'The reason I say Atlanta, why, why is Georgia such a f***** up state now?' Prieto reportedly explained to the undercover agent.

'When I was a kid that was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why is it not now? Because as crime got worse in LA, St. Louis and all these other cities, all the n****** moved out of those and moved to Atlanta.

'That's why it isn't so great anymore,' he said. 'And they've seen there a couple, several years.' 

He unknowingly planned the mass shooting with an undercover FBI agent and his informant

Over the next few months, Prieto would go into more specifics about his plans - saying they should find a place to store the guns in Atlanta before the concert and discussing how they should remove firearm residue from their bodies.

Prieto even allegedly sold two automatic rifles to the undercover agent - an AK-47 at a gun show in Phoenix at the end of February and an AR-15 the following month, saying it would be 'a good gun to use in the attack.' 

He allegedly stressed that it was important for there to be a large death count, telling both the agent and the informant they should show 'no mercy' and advising that they 'can't have any feeling.'

'They're not real people, they're monsters as far as I'm concerned,' Prieto allegedly told the two of the proposed victims.

Prieto allegedly stressed the need for a large death toll at the concert

As the dates of the concert grew closer, Prieto also told the people he thought would be accomplices he was planning to scout out the venue in May, after visiting his mom in Florida.

He was then caught on May 14 traveling on a New Mexico interstate with five firearms in his vehicle, according to the affidavit.

An ensuing raid on his Arizona home later uncovered even more firearms, including an unregistered short-barreled rifle.

Upon questioning, agents say, Prieto admitted to selling an AR-15 to the FBI agent and discussing an attack at the concert venue 'where young people and minorities [would be]' - but insisted he was just traveling to Florida to visit his mother at the time of his arrest.

Prieto is now facing federal charges of firearm trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime and possession of an unregistered firearm.

He is in custody at the US Marshals Service for transport back to Arizona, according to NBC News. 

If convicted, Prieto could face up to 15 years in prison for each charge of firearms trafficking and transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime, as well as another 10 years behind bars for having an unregistered firearm.

Additionally, he could be fined up to $250,000 for each charge.