Dead ICE Facility Attacker Wrote ‘I am Antifa’ Manifesto Before Assault

Willem Van Spronsen was an anarchist and anti-fascist who was shot and killed by Tacoma Police officers while trying to set fire to a propane tank with incendiary devices during an attack at an ICE detention center in Tacoma on Saturday, July 13. (Courtesy of Twitter)
Willem Van Spronsen was an anarchist and anti-fascist who was shot and killed by Tacoma Police officers while trying to set fire to a propane tank with incendiary devices during an attack at an ICE detention center in Tacoma on Saturday, July 13. Van Spronsen was previously arrested in 2018 at the Tacoma detention facility when he was accused of lunging at a police officer who was detaining another protester. (Courtesy of Twitter)

July 12, 2019 – In Breaking News – Fox News

The 69-year-old armed man killed by Washington state police as he attacked a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center Saturday sent a manifesto to friends the day before the assault in which he wrote “I am Antifa,” and was being lionized by members of the leftwing group as a “martyr.”

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.”

“I regret that I will miss the rest of the revolution. Doing what I can to help defend my precious and wondrous people is an experience too rich to describe. I am Antifa.” 

— Willem Van Spronsen’s manifesto obtained by KIRO7

“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.”

Friends of the 69-year-old have defended him in the attack’s aftermath, accusing police of murdering Van Spronsen.

Deanne English told KIRO7 she last saw Van Spronsen outside the facility, which was the site of an earlier protest, Friday night.

“And he was probably just standing his ground,” she told the television station about his death. “Because that’s what he does.”

(A man who was killed after attacking an immigration detention facility had been previously arrested for assault. Willem Van Spronsen, 69, attacked the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma before dawn on Saturday. According to Reuters, Van Spronsen was armed with a rifle and incendiary devices when he attacked the Washington facility. He burned one vehicle and was trying to ignite a propane tank when he was confronted by four police officers who opened fire on him. Van Spronsen had previously been arrested for assaulting a police officer at a protest outside the same facility. Courtesy of Wochit News and YouTube. Posted on Jul 14, 2019.)

Another friend, Deb Bartley, told the Seattle Times, however, that Van Spronsen was an anarchist and anti-fascist who, she believed, attacked the detention center intending to provoke a fatal conflict.

Van Spronsen was armed with a rifle and incendiary devices when he launched his assault on the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma around 4 a.m. Saturday, according to the Tacoma Police Department.

Employees reported he was throwing ‘incendiary devices’ and setting vehicles on fire and the first officers on the scene said he was wearing a sachet and carrying flares.

Van Spronsen was trying to ignite a propane tank when he was confronted by the officers, who opened fire.

(Tacoma police set up roadblocks limiting access to the Northwest Detention Center on the Tacoma Tideflats on July 13, 2019, as they investigate a fatal officer-involved shooting. Police shot and killed Willem Van Spronsen, 69, outside the facility after he was reported throwing incendiary devices and carrying a rife. Courtesy of The News Tribune by Joshua Bessex. Posted on Jul 15, 2019.)

Continue reading… Washington ICE detention center attacker Willem Van Spronsen wrote ‘I am Antifa’ manifesto before assault

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