Suspect arrested in Fayetteville SWAT standoff identified as leader of controversial 'cult'

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - One of the suspects arrested after an hours-long SWAT standoff and possible kidnapping in a metro Atlanta suburb has been identified as a leader of a fringe group some former members describe as a cult.

Fayetteville police arrested 36-year-old Augustus Romain and 21-year-old Xavier Rushin Wednesday in connection with the standoff at a home in the Woodbyne subdivision off of White Road.

According to investigators, officers responded to the home on Selwyn Court after a 911 caller claimed he had been kidnapped by an organization and was being held against his will in the home's garage.

Police tracked the call to the neighborhood and saw someone waving their hand out of the home's garage window.

Augustus C. Romain (Fayette County Sheriff's Office)

After surrounding the home, officers asked everyone inside to come out. While nine people exited, Fayetteville police say they determined one more person was inside and tried to make contact.

Hours later, police robot discovered 18-year-old Amonte T. Ammons dead from what police say was an "apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head." 

Officers charged Romain with two counts of aggravated sodomy, conspiracy to commit a felony, false imprisonment (party to a crime), kidnapping (party to a crime), aggravated assault (party to a crime), and criminal street gang activity.

According to records obtained by FOX 5, Romain, who goes by the name Gazi Kodo, is the leader of a group known as the Black Hammer Party that operates out of metro Atlanta.

Court records show that Romain formed the organization Black Hammer Organization LLC and Unity Church International Incorporated, which is listed as having the same address as the Fayetteville home.

Speaking on his Facebook page, someone representing Romain called the arrests a "targeted attack by "the Fayettetteville Police Department, SWAT, and the FBI on the headquarters of the Black Hammer Party" describing Rushin and the Ammons as Romain's "sons."

The case remains under investigation with Romain and Rushin in custody at the Fayette County Jail.

What is the Black Hammer Party?

Formed in 2019 by Romain, the Black Hammer Party is an Atlanta-based organization that has gained some internet attention for multiple statements and activities that have created small viral controversies.

In one such post, the group, which describes itself as a "symbol of hope for the colonized working class," called Holocaust victim Anne Frank a "bleach demon," "Karen," and "colonizer" while posting tweeting that they were going to burn copies of her diary for warmth.

After raising over $60,000, the organization attempted to create a settlement known as "Hammer City" in a region of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with Romain posting photos of a group declaring that they had "liberated" hundreds of acres of land, the Colorado Sun reports.

However, paper reports that the group had not finished purchasing the land and missed key deadlines to sign the closing documents. The owners of the land backed out of the deal after hearing that the group was armed and staying in the area.

More recently, the group protested outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against COVID-19 vaccines and in support of rapper Nicki Minaj, who at that time had recently tweeted that she wasn't vaccinated. The group has also collaborated with Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, over their mutual anti-vaccinated beliefs.

A former Black Hammer member who goes by Savvy says the group recruited homeless people and young people around metro Atlanta and described the group's houses as feeling "like an acid trip for (Romain)."

She told the Daily Beast that in order to leave the group she had to pull a knife on Romain and another member and was eventually dragged out of the home by other Black Hammer members.  

"I’m surprised it took this long," Savvy said.

In a tweeted video posted by Romain during the standoff, he said that he wasn't concerned about the polcie.

"There's a lot of media how here, so it's just going to build me up at the end of the day. So thank you for that," he said. "Now all these new challenges are going to want to interview us and we are going to get communicate all the great work were doing. So this is great at the end of the day."