GA Man Raided by ATF Agents After Drug Pickup, Likely Tied to a Homicide

According to Athens Banner Herald, federal agents raided Kyle Lamar Myers, a Franklin County man known for his “explosive” YouTube videos. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) executed the raid in a search for illegal guns and explosives. The events were set into place when deputies of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office arrested the 30-year-old after he had picked up a drug shipment.

Myers and his YouTube channel “FPS Russia” gained publicity in 2013 after law enforcement found his former business partner dead inside the FPS Industries Global LLC business. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation covered the case and investigated the crime, but never caught the victim’s killer. They had suspicions, however.

And so did the ATF. The YouTube channel “FPS Russia” featured Myers with dozens of guns. He spoke in a Russian accent while “blowing up cars, refrigerators and shooting various firearms.” In 2013, three months after the death of his former partner, 32-year-old Keith Ratliff, the ATF raided his property. Although no charges were filed, the ATF revealed that the raid was in reference to the explosives used in his YouTube videos.

The YouTube channel and social media profiles eventually went dormant in 2016. The GBI’s investigation into the “execution” style murder of Ratliff similarly tapered out. They had not finished the investigation, but neither had they made any progress to speak of. “There were no signs of forced entry at the business and the surveillance equipment, along with some firearms, had been taken,” the GBI reported. “There did not appear to be a struggle of any kind, and based on the scene, Ratliff died while he was working.”

Law enforcement undoubtedly suspected Myers. But they found themselves unable to arrest the former YouTube personality as no known material evidence had incriminated him. With an apparent bloodlust for a man they believed to be a murderer, the ATF rolled with the 30-year-old’s drug bust and raided the 60-acre property the next day. Again, they found no explosives. They gathered more than 50 firearms—legal at the time—and announced their next move.

According to ATF spokesman Nero Priester, the ATF seized Myers’s weapons in accord with a federal statute that prevents “any illegal drug user from having firearms.” Priester explained that the ATF was “waiting for lab results to come back […] as the ATF got a subpoena for his blood to see if he is an active drug user,” he said, adding that if tests show he was using illegal drugs the ATF will consider presenting a case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Myers already faces charges schedule one drug possession.