Armed men are guarding the streets of Lincoln Heights, stopping cars and vetting passersby

LINCOLN HEIGHTS, Ohio – In the days since a neo-Nazi demonstration rattled residents here, a group of men began guarding its streets, many donning all black and wearing masks, with rifles in hand.

But they are doing more than your typical neighborhood watch: They’ve stopped people from passing through, approached cars in a fast food drive-thru and even threatened to shoot a property owner.

The Enquirer reviewed more than three dozen 911 calls from the Lincoln Heights area since a Feb. 7 white supremacist demonstration on the I-75 overpass at Vision Way left residents on edge. Several callers expressed concerns with seeing the men with guns, but three callers recounted confrontations with the armed men that step beyond what many would consider within the limits of Ohio’s open carry laws.

Jim Meister, who owns a business in Lincoln Heights, told The Enquirer one of the armed men pointed his rifle at him and threatened to shoot.

Meister called police Feb. 11 after seeing a car parked in a fenced off, vacant lot he owns adjacent to his business. When Meister arrived there with a 911 dispatcher on the phone, three men got out of the car and approached him.

“I’m calling the police,” Meister is heard saying to the men in a recording of the 911 call.

“We are the police. What’s wrong?” one man appears to reply. “We’re protecting Lincoln Heights.”

Meister said one of the men, carrying what looked like an assault rifle, then pointed his gun at Meister and his friend. They argued about who owned the lot and when police arrived, the men admitted they didn’t know Meister was the owner.

A deputy asked Meister if he’d like them off his property. He said he let them stay the night, but that has since turned into a week – and a tent is now in the center of the lot.

Neo-Nazi display: Lincoln Heights rally calls for Evendale boycott to protest response

Another man, Daniel Jacobs, called 911 and said he was forced to leave the neighborhood after armed men would not let him pass through Feb. 10. Jacobs told The Enquirer he’s tried to file a police report twice but doesn’t feel like the sheriff’s office is taking the issue seriously.

One 911 caller who was dropping kids off at a nearby school told a dispatcher Friday he saw five armed men standing at the corner of Mangham Drive and Shepherd Lane. The caller said some of the men were stopping people in the Wendy’s drive-thru and talking to them, prompting him to leave the area.

A Wendy’s manager confirmed the armed men have been approaching customers in the drive-thru but declined to comment further.

During a rolling car protest Monday, an Enquirer reporter was approached in his vehicle by one of the armed men, asking him what his purpose was in the neighborhood. He was allowed to proceed after showing his media credentials.

“I think the police are afraid to do something because they don’t want to cause any problems,” Meister said. “But what they’re doing down there is a (criminal) offense. You can’t threaten someone and say ‘I’m going to shoot you.'”

Sheriff unaware of confrontations, doesn’t want ‘neighborhood militias’

In each of the 911 calls where someone reported seeing the armed men or witnessing a confrontation, the dispatcher told them an officer would be sent to the area. In one call Monday, a 911 dispatcher told a caller that police speak with the armed men several times throughout the day and “check on them” to make sure they’re not impeding traffic or threatening people with their weapons.

Racist, neo-Nazi groups: White supremacist demonstration near Cincinnati part of a larger national trend

Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey, whose deputies are assigned to patrol the historically Black community, said during a news conference Tuesday she had “no idea” about passersby being confronted but if it is happening, she does not condone the behavior.

“Nobody has addressed that with the sheriff’s office. If they do, we will certainly articulate what can and can’t be done in that arena. We do not want to create neighborhood militias,” McGuffey said. “We won’t want to do that because we understand that it leads back to the tactics of these neo-Nazis. They want people to do that.”

The sheriff and her spokeswoman Kyla Woods did not respond to emails or a call from The Enquirer Tuesday afternoon asking for more information about the confrontations and whether they are taking any action.

“I feel as though the police are hoping this will go away by not doing anything with it,” Jacobs said.

Community members taking safety into their own hands

McGuffey said she has added extra resources to watch over Lincoln Heights after the white supremacist demonstration almost two weeks ago. The community of roughly 3,100 people has contracted with the sheriff’s office to patrol the village since it disbanded its police department in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure.

During a town hall following the demonstration, several residents said they were unsatisfied with the level of protection they feel they’ve been getting from the sheriff’s office, with the demonstration being the latest example.

Residents, saying they fear retribution from the demontrators, decided to take their safety into their own hands.

At a Sunday prayer vigil following the demonstration, men armed with guns stood watching, waiting in case the demonstrators made an appearance.

Lincoln Heights town hall: Sheriff says ‘no law being violated’ by swastika flyers in Evendale

When a U-Haul drove past the protest Monday from the same overpass where one filled with swastika-wearing demonstrators left days earlier, three men grabbed their guns and walked toward the truck.

The U-Haul came to a stop.

One man, rifle in hand, glanced toward the driver’s seat. He raised a fist in the air, letting the driver through.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sheriff says no to ‘neighborhood militias’ as armed men stop cars in Lincoln Heights