Antifa Activist Fatally Shot After Firebombing Immigration Center
[guest post by Dana]
This happened early Saturday morning before the ICE raids were set to begin:
A rifle-armed 69-year-old has been fatally shot by the police after throwing incendiary devices at an immigration centre in Tacoma, Washington
Officers were called to the privately run prison at around 4am where the man, identified in local media as Willem Van Spronsen of Vashon Island, had set a vehicle alight with the explosives.
He is also believed to have attempted to ignite a large propane tank outside the building.
His target, the Tacoma Northwest Detention Centre, has long served as a holding facility for migrants as they are about to be deported.
More recently it has also housed parents separated from their children at the border under Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy towards undocumented immigrants.
The incident took place roughly six hours after a peaceful rally against deportations outside the centre.
Individuals who knew Van Spronsen believe that this was a suicide:
One friend of twenty years, Deb Bartley, told The Seattle Times she and others had received letters from him which read “just saying goodbye” along with what she described as a manifesto.
She added: “I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs… I know he went down there knowing he was going to die.”
Unsurprisingly, the attacker was already known to law enforcement:
A protest outside the federal immigration detention center in Tacoma last year drew headlines when a 68-year-old man wrapped his arms around a police officer’s throat and shoulders in an apparent attempt to free another protester.
When police got the man into handcuffs, they found a collapsible baton and knife in his pocket, leading to criminal charges.
Fellow anarchists are celebrating the “martyr” for the cause:
The group Seattle Antifascist Action described assailant Willem Van Spronsen a “good friend and comrade” who “took a stand against the fascist detention center in Tacoma” and “became a martyr who gave his life to the struggle against fascism.”
“He was kind and deeply loved by many communities; we cannot let his death go unanswered,” the group wrote in a Saturday Facebook post. “Throughout history we idolize figures like John Brown for their courage to take the ultimate stand against oppression, and today we stand strong in our support for yet another martyr in the struggle against fascism. May his death serve as a call to protest and direct action.”
P.S. In the so-called “martyr’s” manifesto that he sent to friends the day before the attack, he wrote “I am Antifa”. That sounds about right.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
I didn’t hear much outcry about this over the weekend. Are these tactics being tacitly approved of by the open borders crowd? Should we anticipate more of this violence happening?
Dana (bb0678) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:11 am1. Is that a serious question, or rhetorical?
Gryph (08c844) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:12 amI’m surprised you have to ask. Rhetorical.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:20 amIt’s too much to think that Antifa thought this through.
If he had succeeded in his apparent goal of burning down the detention center, his victims would have been (mostly) the migrants being held there.
kishnevi (0c10d1) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:21 amAs time passes, I think that violence is more and more inevitable. While I in no way condone violence, I stand prepared to protect myself when one of these Antifa pukes gets brave enough to pull something.
Gryph (08c844) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:33 amThe thing to know about this Antifa idiot is that he’s from Vashon Island, a place where hardcore progressives, socialists and communists go when Seattle is too conservative for them. One of my daughter’s teammates on the rowing team, her parents literally live in a commune on Vashon.
Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:47 amI’m sorry that someone died and I’m glad that it wasn’t worse. I’m also sorry for the officers that had to kill him. It’s incredibly selfish to think the Police officer you intend to pull the trigger isn’t going to be harmed by the act of taking a life, no matter how justified.
When we rightly began to crack down on the Klan one of the first things we did was make them march and demonstrate with their faces shown. I’d like to see that same, simple logic applied to Antifa.
Time123 (dba73f) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:48 amIt wasn’t clear from the way this was initially reported what side the firebomber was on, but even without that, the way it was was the way to bet.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:56 am7… well said.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/15/2019 @ 8:59 amWhen we rightly began to crack down on the Klan one of the first things we did was make them march and demonstrate with their faces shown. I’d like to see that same, simple logic applied to Antifa.
I think that that’s been held to violate the First Amendment if all they’re doing is peacefully marching. However, being masked can be and is aggravation or enhancement for any other crime, from rioting to unlawfully carrying a weapon.
nk (dbc370) — 7/15/2019 @ 9:04 amNK, I’ll assume you’re right on the law, but it seems like wearing a mask in a protest that because non-peaceful should be something we could stop.
Bottom line; Just because you’re in opposition to Nazi, neo-Nazi and Nazi sympathizers doesn’t mean you can’t also be an unruly mob that’s committing crimes.
Time123 (66d88c) — 7/15/2019 @ 9:34 amThe police could contain them in separate “free speech zones”, masked, unmasked, or “dressed” only in makeup like these people in Times Square (NSFW!), and arrest them if they try to mix it up, and that’s about as much a prior restraint as is allowed.
nk (dbc370) — 7/15/2019 @ 9:45 amI would like to see this happen too. Masked Antifa rioting in the streets of Portland isn’t “peacefully marching”.
After the last melee, Portland’s chief of police has called for a law banning masks:
Dana (bb0678) — 7/15/2019 @ 10:17 amThe bolded part is silly. I’m sure it will take a small bit of work to get 100% correct but I can think several ways to word it such that costume parties aren’t forbidden.
Time123 (235fc4) — 7/15/2019 @ 10:33 amHis Antifa connection was was almost totally ignored after it happened, even though it was reported on conservative sites and some Antifa group called him a martyr much in the manner of John Brown.
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Cameron Gray
@Cameron_Gray
Somewhere, in an alternate universe, people are protesting a violent domestic terrorist who was “armed with a rifle and was also carrying flares that he was using to set things on fire as incendiary devices…tossed lit objects at vehicles and buildings, causing one car fire”
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Rob O’Hump
@robohump
He was ANTIFA. Why do people keep ignoring that detail?
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Ellie Mae 🇺🇸
@wanderer820
Doesn’t fit the narrative.
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jcope
@jtcope4
“Protesters gathered outside a Washington State Detention Center to demand the shutdown of the facility…”
Muslim terrorists praise men who attack and attempt to kill Jews. Now Americans and illegals praise men who attack and attempt to kill Americans
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Alex Lekas
@TheAlexLekas
Some guy did something. What’s the big deal?
harkin (58d012) — 7/15/2019 @ 10:49 am_
Times123,
“Express their views” probably needs to be clearly defined. As in: exactly how are they expressing said views?
Dana (bb0678) — 7/15/2019 @ 11:07 amDana, I think the proposed wording needs to be refined in a number of ways. I’m reluctant to start proposing wording for a law in a comment section full of lawyers. Many of whom are passionate about the 1st amendment. 😀
But it looks like it could be done.
Time123 (b53270) — 7/15/2019 @ 12:28 pmIt also looks like I’d get thumped about head for making mistakes people like Bored Lawyer learned to avoid in their first year of law school.
12… not safe for work!?!?!
Some things canNOT be unseen. That was an abomination!!!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/15/2019 @ 12:35 pmHe was an angry old man who could not control his emotions, hence Antifa terrorist was the result and then death.
Kate (689c33) — 7/15/2019 @ 12:52 pmRush Limbaugh says that awhile before CNN had done a (positive) profile on him.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 7/16/2019 @ 11:57 am