Michael Protzman, leader of Dallas QAnon group, dies after crash in Minnesota
Michael Brian Protzman, the leader of a QAnon-centric group who brought hundreds of followers to Dallas to await the supposed resurrections of long-dead President John F. Kennedy and his son — tearing countless families apart in the process — died following a crash last month, according to authorities in Minnesota.
Protzman was 60. His death, which occurred June 30, was confirmed to The Dallas Morning News by officials in Olmsted County, about 100 miles south of Minneapolis.
According to a death report obtained by Vice News, Protzman died of blunt-force injuries after losing control of a dirt bike on June 23, one week before his death.
Originally from Washington State, Protzman convinced hundreds, possibly thousands, of people to uproot their lives and leave their families to come to Dallas in 2021 under the belief that Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, and his son, who died in a plane crash in 1999, would reveal themselves to be alive, help usher in the reinstatement of Donald Trump as president, and commence a “storm” of military tribunals and executions of prominent Democrats and celebrities, who his followers baselessly believed were involved in the sexual abuse of children.
Those predictions did not come to pass.
Protzman and his followers, though, were not dissuaded. For several months, they lived relatively lavishly in Dallas, where many of them stayed at the Hyatt Regency downtown. The group frequently wore T-shirts bearing the faces of Kennedy Jr., who they believed would become vice president under the new Trump administration.
They attended a Rolling Stones concert and a Trump appearance in Dallas, and frequently held vigils on the Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was killed in 1963, expecting him and his son to reveal themselves. They also predicted other dead figures, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Princess Diana, would be resurrected.
Protzman began gaining a following on Telegram, a messaging application, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A central component of his belief system is the use of a version of gematria, a coded language that assigns numbers to names and words. His online followers, numbering in the thousands, called him Negative48.
The belief that a new Trump administration would help set off a series of events leading to the arrests and executions of prominent Democrats and celebrities is a tenet of the QAnon conspiracy theory. The FBI has warned of the potential danger for QAnon adherents to take part in real-world violence.
QAnon followers have been accused of murder. In 2019, a follower of the conspiracy theory was accused of killing a reputed mob boss in New York. A California father said the conspiracy led him to kill his two children in 2021.
QAnon is considered a sort of “umbrella” conspiracy theory. Protzman added his own twist with the use of gematria and codes.
Experts who follow QAnon and other extremist movements said in 2021 that Protzman’s emergence took them by surprise. The way in which he was able to translate an online following into a real-world gathering was novel and unique, said one, who described Protzman’s group as “undeniably a cult.”
While members of Protzman’s group have not been linked to any known cases of real-world violence, the families of those who fell under his spell said he caused immeasurable damage — causing loved ones to miss holidays, birthdays and lose contact with their families.
“I hope he’s finally at peace,” Rachel Boullion, whose mother left her family to follow Protzman, said in a text message. “Clearly, a person who enjoys taking advantage of the vulnerable and feeding them false promises and lies is someone who isn’t right within themselves.”
“The amount of damage he’s caused in my life by taking my mother from her grandchildren, all the while feeding her lies of this so-called ‘mission to save the children,’ is despicable,” Boullion said. “I’ve lost out on having her be a part of my children’s lives for the past 21 months and counting because of Michael Protzman’s foolishness.”
The group eventually left Dallas — though they would repeatedly return over the next two years — but followed Trump as he held rallies across the country.
Some of their antics garnered considerable attention. Toward the end of a Trump rally in Ohio in September, several members of Protzman’s group who were in the crowd pointed their fingers toward the sky as what The New York Times described as a “QAnon theme song” played over the speakers.
It’s not clear what Protzman’s followers will do now that their leader has died. Protzman’s group has been beset by infighting since their Dallas appearance. Members could choose sides among those splinter groups. Their families hope they will return home.
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