A Montana woman has been arrested after she plowed her vehicle through a religious group holding a demonstration at an intersection, injuring at least one person, police said Sunday.
Genevienne Rancuret, 55, was pulled over by police in Billings on Saturday a few hours after the incident and taken to jail on charges of felony assault with a weapon – the vehicle – felony criminal mischief and driving under the influence, police said. It is not known if she has a lawyer representing her yet.
According to the Billings Police Department, on Dec. 9 at around 12:33 p.m., police responded to calls about a suspect driving a vehicle through a religious demonstration put on by a group called “Israel United in Christ” at the intersection of 6th Avenue North and North 27th.
The person in the vehicle drove at or through the demonstrators several times, striking and injuring a 45-year-old male before fleeing the area, police said.
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The intersection of 6th Avenue North and North 27th in Billings, Montana. A woman was arrested on Saturday, Dec. 9, after she allegedly drove her vehicle through a religious group’s demonstration at this intersection. (Google Maps/Google Street View)
Medics responded to the scene to treat the injured man. Police obtained a description of the suspect after interviewing witnesses.
Nearly two hours later, at 2:31 p.m., officers located the suspect’s vehicle in the 700 block of Central Avenue and arrested Rancuret during a traffic stop.
Police arrested Genevienne Rancuret at 700 Central Avenue in Billings, Montana, two hours after the incident. (Google Maps/Google Street View)
The FBI and the Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office are investigating the incident, Lt. Matthew Lennick said. Police have not yet identified a motive in the assault.
“The initial investigation does not lead us to believe that the suspect intentionally came to this location with the intention of locating this group, but rather happened to be in the area, and due to some interaction between them and/or a reaction to the message they were providing caused the suspect to perform actions that damaged property and threatened the safety of members of this group,” Lennick told Fox News Digital.
An SUV belonging to the Billings Police Department. (Billings Police Department)
Israel United in Christ, Inc. (IUIC) is an activist sect of the Black Hebrew Israelite spiritual movement – which claims that the true Israelites are people of African descent. Some Black Hebrew Israelite sects are controversial and have been known to adopt extremist and antisemitic ideology, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Israel United in Christ was founded in 2003 after breaking off from the Israeli School of Universal Practical Knowledge. The sect has 71 United States locations, according to the ADL.
Leaders of the sect have made antisemitic statements in the past. On Jan. 21, 2020, founder Nathanial Ray, aka Bishop Nathanyel Ben Israel, in a recorded sermon referred to Jews as “the devil that the Bible even speaks of,” “the so-called Jews” and “the house of demons,” the ADL said.
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Last month, an Indiana woman was arrested after allegedly driving her car into a Black Hebrew Israelite building she had mistaken for a Jewish school.
Rancuret has been charged with eight counts of felony assault with a weapon, felony criminal mischief and DUI. She is being held at Yellowston County Detention Facility.
