Armed anarchist and anti-fascist shot and killed outside ICE detention facility

On Saturday, July 13^th, a self-described anarchist and anti-fascist named Willem Van Spronsen showed up at a detention facility belonging to Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE) in Tacoma, Washington. Spronsen had protested there in the past—last year, he attacked a police officer and when arrested, had a knife and collapsible baton on his person, according to the Seattle Times.

This time, Spronsen, 68, came armed with a rifle and incendiary devices, which he lit and began throwing into vehicles. An ICE employee saw what was happening outside the building and called the police. When Tacoma police officers arrived, they quickly radioed that they had “shots fired” although it’s currently unclear who fired first. Multiple police officers discharged their weapons before moving to cover. Spronsen lay dead, killed by multiple gunshots.

Before making his ill-fated assault on the ICE detention facility, Spronsen penned a manifesto which he sent to his friends. It references the Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, Howard Zinn, the famous Italian partisan song “Bella Ciao,” and states that his primary teachers are anarchist Emma Goldman, abolitionist John Brown, and Don Pritts, creator of the “Big Book” workshop for the 12-Step group, Alcoholics Anonymous.