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2019 Tacoma attack
2019 Tacoma immigration detention center attack is located in Washington (state)
Northwest Detention Center
Northwest Detention Center
2019 Tacoma immigration detention center attack is located in the United States
2019 Tacoma immigration detention center attack
LocationNorthwest Detention Center, Tacoma, Washington, United States
DateJuly 13, 2019 (2019-07-13)
TargetU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center
Attack type
Arson
WeaponPropane tank
Deaths1 (the perpetrator)
Injured0
PerpetratorWillem van Spronsen
MotiveAnarchism

On July 13, 2019, Willem van Spronsen firebombed a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Tacoma, Washington. He was shot dead by police while attempting to ignite a propane tank.[1][2][3]

Incident

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The incident took place at 4:00 a.m. at the Northwest Detention Center, a privately owned detention center for undocumented immigrants.[1] Four officers arrived at the scene and called out to van Spronsen, who they claimed was wearing a satchel and carrying flares, 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.[2][4][5]

Friends of van Spronsen reportedly received farewell letters from him before the incident.[2]

Perpetrator

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Willem van Spronsen (1950–2019) was a carpenter and a resident of Vashon, Washington,[6][1] who had been arrested previously during a demonstration at the same ICE detention center in June 2018.[1][7] 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 and a folding knife.[1] According to police, van Spronsen was an anarchist who claimed to be associated with a designation known as antifa, a broad category of antifascist action frequently mistaken for an organized group.[8] In a letter written before the attack, he wrote "I am antifa."[9] Van Spronsen's daughter, who describes herself as an advocate of liberal pacifism, said her father was a supporter of anarchism but had written that she disagreed with him "on some principles, such as the use of force and weapons in the fight".[10]

Van Spronsen had been active in social media under the pseudonym "Emma Durutti", a portmanteau of the names of historic anarchists Emma Goldman and Buenaventura Durruti. Van Spronsen had once been a member of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club and had attended Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.[6]

Van Spronsen had formerly been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous.[10]

Van Spronsen had written a manifesto detailing what he viewed as a political justification for attacking the ICE facility.[8][11][12] 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".[13]

Terrorism classification

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The GEO Group, 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."[14]

Seth Jones, a terrorism analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 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."[9]

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.[15][16][17] Though the database did not link any murders to Antifa, it highlighted van Spronsen's death as the only death resulting from an anti-fascist attack, according to an analysis by The Guardian.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Knowles, Hannah (July 14, 2019). "Armed man killed during attack on ICE detention center, police say". Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Contreras, Brian (July 13, 2019). "Armed man attacking Tacoma's ICE detention center killed in officer-involved shooting". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  3. ^ Sailor, Craig (July 13, 2014). "Tacoma police shoot and kill attacker at center for ICE detainees". Tacoma News Tribune. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  4. ^ Menendez, Pilar (July 14, 2019). "Washington Man Accused of Hurling Molotov Cocktails at ICE Detention Center Killed by Police". Daily Beast. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  5. ^ Padilla, Mariel (July 13, 2019). "Man Attacking ICE Detention Center Is Fatally Shot by the Police". New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Cleary, Tom (July 15, 2019). "Willem Van Spronsen aka Emma Durutti: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  7. ^ Fedschum, Travis (July 15, 2019). "Washington ICE detention center attacker Willem Van Spronsen wrote 'I am Antifa' manifesto before assault". Fox News. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Iata, Marissa; Knowles, Hannah (July 19, 2019). "ICE detention-center attacker killed by police was an avowed anarchist, authorities say". Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Allam, Hannah; Urquhart, Jim (July 23, 2020). "'I Am Antifa': One Activist's Violent Death Became A Symbol For The Right And Left". NPR.org. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Raftery, Isolde; Jimenez, Esmy (July 16, 2019). "'His heart was tender and large.' Daughter of antifa killed at Northwest Detention Center reflects on his life". KUOW. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  11. ^ Krell, Alexis (July 18, 2019). "'Maybe it was his last stand.' Man killed at Tacoma detention center felt strongly about ICE". News Tribune. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  12. ^ Horne, Deborah (July 15, 2019). "Vashon Island man sent manifesto before he was killed at detention center". KIRO. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  13. ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan (July 19, 2019). "Man killed outside Washington detention center cites 'concentration camp' debate in manifesto". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  14. ^ "Surveillance video shows violent attack at Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma". king5.com. August 16, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  15. ^ a b Beckett, Lois (July 27, 2020). "Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years". The Guardian. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  16. ^ Jones, Seth G. (June 4, 2020). "Who Are Antifa, and Are They a Threat?". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  17. ^ Pasley, James (July 31, 2020). "Trump frequently accuses the far-left of inciting violence, yet right-wing extremists have killed 329 victims in the last 25 years, while antifa members haven't killed any, according to a new study". Business Insider. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
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