Local News

More details emerge on ex-Woburn cop who helped plan Charlottesville rally

Woburn officials say former police officer John Donnelly used an alias during his involvement with the "Unite the Right" rally and used racist and anti-Semitic language.

October 22, 2022

1 minute to read

New details have come to light surrounding a former Woburn police officer’s alleged involvement in planning and participating in a deadly white supremacist rally in 2017.

John Donnelly was suspended with pay earlier this month after Woburn police learned of his alleged role in helping organize the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally.

The gathering of neo-Nazis and Klu Klux Klan (KKK) members culminated with white supremacists carrying torches and weapons and chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. Counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed and several others injured when a rallygoer intentionally drove a car into a crowd.

On Friday, Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin and Woburn Police Chief Robert F. Rufo Jr. released details about Donnelly’s involvement in the rally, saying the former cop “violated multiple department policies through involvement in extremist groups.”

According to a report by Boston 25, Galvin and Rufo revealed that Donnelly used the alias “Johnny O’Malley” in person and online during his involvement with the rally. In addition to attending the rally, Donnelly helped plan the event and also provided security for rally organizers, including white nationalist alt-right leader Richard Spencer, who was a speaker and promoter.

The review also found that Donnelly used anti-Semitic and racist language and associated with Identity Evropa, a now-disbanded group that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described as “a white supremacist group focused on the preservation of ‘white American culture’ and promoting white European identity.”

Galvin and Rufo submitted the investigation’s findings to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. They recommended that Donnelly be de-certified and no longer eligible to work as a police officer in Massachusetts, the report said.

On Oct. 14, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced she launched an investigation into Donnelly’s involvement with the rally.

“We are acutely aware of the way in which these allegations tear at the fabric of trust which exists between communities and the police departments which serve them,” Ryan said.