On July 13, 2019, Willem van Spronsen

firebombed Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary ...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

(ICE) detention center in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. He was shot dead by police who say he was attempting to ignite a

propane tank Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used ...

Incident

The incident took place at 4:00a.m. at the

Northwest Detention Center Northwest Detention Center is a privately-run detention center located on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The detention center is operated by the GEO Group on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ...

, a privately owned detention center for undocumented immigrants. Four officers arrived at the scene and called out to van Spronsen, who they claimed was wearing a

satchel A satchel is a bag with a strap, traditionally used for carrying books.Satchel
The Cambridge Dictionary. ...

and carrying

flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...

s, before reporting "shots fired". According to the statement by the Tacoma Police Department, Van Spronsen, who was reported to have been carrying a rifle, "attempted to ignite a large propane tank and set our buildings on fire" and "continued throwing lit objects and firebombs at the buildings and cars". Officers promptly shot him dead. Friends of van Spronsen reportedly received farewell letters from him before the incident.

Perpetrator

Willem van Spronsen (1950–2019) was a carpenter and a resident of

Vashon, Washington Vashon is a census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. It covers an island alternately called Vashon Island or Vashon–Maury Island, the largest island in Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet. The population was 10,6 ...

, who had been arrested previously during a demonstration at the same ICE detention center in June 2018. In the earlier incident, he had a physical altercation with a police officer during an effort to free a protester who was detained. Police alleged that van Spronsen was armed with a

baton Baton may refer to: Stick-like objects *Baton, a type of club *Baton (law enforcement) *Baston (weapon), a type of baton used in Arnis and Filipino Martial Arts *Baton charge, a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people *Baton (conductin ...

and a

folding knife A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A ty ...

. According to police, van Spronsen was an anarchist who claimed to be associated with antifascists known as antifa. In a letter written before the attack, he wrote "I am antifa." Van Spronsen's daughter, who describes herself as an advocate of liberal pacifism, said her father was a supporter of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

but had written that she disagreed with him "on some principles, such as the use of force and weapons in the fight". Van Spronsen had been active in social media under the pseudonym "Emma Durutti", a portmanteau of the names of historic anarchists

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

and

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish insurrectionary, anarcho-syndicalist militant involved with the CNT and FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War. Durruti played an in ...

. Van Spronsen had once been a member of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club and had attended

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

protests. 2011. Van Spronsen had formerly been involved with

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

. Van Spronsen had written a manifesto detailing what he viewed as a political justification for attacking the ICE facility. In this document, van Spronsen said that "it's time to take action against the forces of evil", citing "highly profitable detention/concentration camps and a battle over the semantics".

Terrorism classification

The

GEO Group The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's f ...

, which runs the facility, called the attack an act of terrorism in a public statement they released saying "This video footage shows the seriousness of the threat to our employees and immigrants housed at the Tacoma Processing Center. We commend the Tacoma Police Department for its heroic actions in responding to this horrific act of terrorism."

Seth Jones Seth Jones may refer to: * Seth Jones (political scientist) (born 1972), American political scientist * Seth Jones (ice hockey) (born 1994), American ice hockey defenseman *'' Seth Jones'', a dime novel by Edward S. Ellis Edward Sylvester Ellis ...

, a terrorism analyst at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

, said of the attack and of Van Spronsen's beliefs "The problem is not that people have views that are against fascism, against white supremacy, against racism. That's certainly defensible, and in fact it's a good thing. The problem is when you start getting into violence. That's where you start to cross a line in the U.S., and that's where it starts to get into the terrorism arena." In June 2020, the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) assembled a database of 893 terrorism incidents in the U.S., beginning in 1994. Though the database did not link any murders to Antifa, it highlighted von Spronsen's death as the only death resulting from an anti-fascist attack, according to an analysis by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tacoma attack 2019 in Washington (state) 2019 crimes in the United States Anarchism in the United States Arson in Washington (state) Attacks in the United States in 2019 Attacks on buildings and structures in the United States GEO Group History of Tacoma, Washington Immigration-related protests Political violence in the United States July 2019 crimes in the United States Failed terrorist attempts in the United States U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement