In case you missed the news over the weekend, from KIRO 7, Tacoma, Washington local news:
Tacoma police kill man who was allegedly trying to set fire to detention center
An armed man was killed, stopped by police while allegedly trying to burn down Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center.
The violence forced people to cancel a planned immigrants’ rights rally ahead of expected roundups of illegal immigrants across the country.
The man who was killed has been identified as 69-year-old Willem Van Spronsen, of Vashon Island.
“He was throwing incendiary devices at the detention center, trying to get it to start a fire,” said Tacoma police Officer Loretta Cool.
She says when the building wouldn’t catch fire, the man crossed the street and started throwing the devices on parked cars.
“One of the cars caught on fire and was fully engulfed in flames when officers arrived,” Cool said.
At some point, four officers opened fire on the man. But they lost sight of him.
“So the officers retreated, took up cover and when they saw him, not only did he have the rifle, he had a satchel, um, and then he had some road flares on him,” said Cool. “So the officers weren’t sure what he had in the satchel.”
When they finally approached, he was dead.
For more honesty, it is best to turn to non-US news. This is the headline from the Independent in the UK.
Armed 69-year-old ‘antifascist’ shot dead after firebombing immigration centre
Van Spronsen was described locally as a committed anarchist and antifascist
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.
The news site Heavy.com has more details on Van Spronsen that are very relevant.
Will Van Spronsen was a member of the anarchist collective called the Puget Sound Anarchists. He was also involved in the left-wing militia group known as the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club.
The Puget Sound Anarchists wrote, “All we know about what lead up to this comes from the cops, who are notoriously corrupt and unreliable sources for such a narrative.”
“We find his actions inspiring. The vehicles outside the detention facility are used to forcibly remove people from their homes and deport them, often to situations where they will face severe danger or death. Those vehicles being destroyed is only a start of what is needed,” the Puget Sound Anarchists wrote. “We wish the fires Will set had freed all the inmates and razed the entire Northwest Detention Center to the ground. And we miss our friend and wish from the bottom of our hearts that his action had not ended in his death.”
Here is Van Spronsen in a JBCG hat at a protest.
Van Spronsen left an “audio manifesto” on Bandcamp, but all I’m getting out of it is some idiot rambling with a guitar.
He also left a “good-bye letter” which has been published online.
Willem Van Spronsen has become a martyr and a hero to Antifa of the Pacific North West.
It’s Going Down is a website and a “digital community center from anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements.”
They have published several tributes to Van Spronsen on the site.
Statement from CrimethInc. on the recent death of Willem Van Spronsen, who was killed by Tacoma police after attempting to set fire to buses at the Northwest Detention Facility in Tacoma, Washington.
On July 13, Willem Van Spronsen was killed by police while apparently taking action to disable the fleet of buses that serve the Northwest Detention Center, a private immigration detainment facility. His final statement, reproduced below, conveys that he was acting in response to the continuous raids and deportations carried out by Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). His action occurred on the one-year anniversary of a hunger strike inside the Northwest Detention Center and an encampment outside…
Every day, mercenaries around the world risk their lives in service to the agenda of the rich and powerful, obeying orders thoughtlessly, squandering their capacity to think rationally, to feel compassion, to take responsibility for their actions. Millions of people kill and die every year simply to increase the wealth and power of the tyrants who manipulate them. Willem Van Spronsen chose to think for himself. He took personal responsibility and did what he could to put an end to what he recognized as injustice. He did not use the Nuremburg defense to excuse his actions the way that every police officer and prison guard does.
In those regards, what he did was heroic.
Puget Sound Anarchists also published their eulogy of Van Spronsen.
We Are The Fire That Will Melt ICE – Rest in power, Will Van Spronsen
Early this morning around 4am our friend and comrade Will Van Spronsen was shot and killed by the Tacoma police. All we know about what lead up to this comes from the cops, who are notoriously corrupt and unreliable sources for such a narrative. The story that we do have is that Will attempted to set fire to several vehicles, outbuildings and a propane tank outside the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma which houses hundreds of immigrants awaiting hearings or deportations. He successfully set one vehicle on fire and then exchanged gunfire with Tacoma police officers who fatally shot him. He was pronounced dead on the scene. We find his actions inspiring. The vehicles outside the detention facility are used to forcibly remove people from their homes and deport them, often to situations where they will face severe danger or death. Those vehicles being destroyed is only a start of what is needed. We wish the fires Will set had freed all the inmates and razed the entire Northwest Detention Center to the ground. And we miss our friend and wish from the bottom of our hearts that his action had not ended in his death.
Antifa in the area are driving and parading around with a bedsheet spray-painted in his honor.
Seattle Antifa also eulogized him on their Facebook page.
I have written about the John Brown Gun Club and Rednec Revolt before. Once in 2017 when they first made the news then again just two weeks ago when Vox gave them a platform.
CNN covered them favorably, which is strange given CNN’s usual anti-gun hatred. I guess brandishing assault weapons is just fine when you are a radical leftist.
I also covered how the media was so favorable to Antifa when they started throwing milkshakes.
Two weeks.
It took two weeks for the media justifying throwing milkshakes and the beating of Andy Ngo to a member of Antifa to trying to firebomb a detention center.
From milkshakes to Molotov cocktails in 14 days.
This is what happens when they are allowed to encouraged to throw milkshakes. It emboldens them to throw more damaging things.
Fortunately, the only person here killed was Van Spronsen. Next time, other people may not be so lucky.
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