Van Spronsen had written a manifesto detailing what he viewed as a political justification for attacking the ICE facility. Van Spronsen had formerly been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous. Van Spronsen was also a member of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club and active in the Occupy Wall Street protests. 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. In a letter written before the attack, he wrote "I am antifa." 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". According to police, van Spronsen was an anarchist who claimed to be associated with antifascists known as antifa. Police alleged that van Spronsen was armed with a baton and a folding knife.
In the earlier incident, he had a physical altercation with a police officer during an effort to free a protester who was detained. Willem van Spronsen (1950–2019) was a carpenter and a resident of Vashon, Washington, who had been arrested previously during a demonstration at the same ICE detention center in June 2018. įriends of van Spronsen reportedly received farewell letters from him before the incident.
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". 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". at the Northwest Detention Center, a privately owned detention center for undocumented immigrants.