Antifa 'Activist' Killed While Attacking ICE Detention Facility

Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP

One of the many issues that divide us in this country is Antifa. Most normal Americans consider Antifa to be domestic terrorists or a group well on its way to becoming so. Even many on the Left are growing concerned with the group’s tactics.

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On the other hand, far too many on the Left are supportive of the gang’s antics. They seem to believe violence is speech, all while saying speech on the Right is violence.

For a while, I’ve been saying that it was only a matter of time before someone got killed. Some would argue that such a prophecy was already met in Charlottesville when a progressive activist was run over by a car driven by an alt-right supporter.

When an Antifa member is killed assaulting an ICE detention facility, however, there’s no discussion to be had.

The police fatally shot a man who was attacking an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Wash., on Saturday morning, the authorities said.

The man, who was armed with a rifle, was throwing unspecified “incendiary devices” at the Northwest Detention Center, according to a police statement. The man, identified by officials on Saturday afternoon as Willem Van Spronsen, 69, of Vashon Island, Wash., continued throwing lit objects at buildings and cars, the statement said.

“One car was fully engulfed in flames,” said Officer Loretta Cool, a spokeswoman for the Tacoma Police Department.

Mr. Van Spronsen also attempted and failed to ignite a commercial-sized propane tank attached to the center, said Shawn Fallah, the resident agent in charge of the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility.

“This could have resulted in the mass murder of staff and detainees housed at the facility,” he said. “These are the kinds of incidents that keep you up at night.”

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Now, in fairness, I don’t think he would have killed the detainees. He was probably thinking he would free them, set them back out into the world. Some might have been killed, but not intentionally. Van Spronsen had an agenda, and killing detainees would have worked against that agenda.

Killing the entire staff of the facility, however, was probably part of the plan.

Instead, he was killed by police. It was only a matter of time before things escalated to this point, and I’m unsurprised it has. This is what happens to terrorists.

However, will they be considered as such? That’s the question Matt Vespa over at Townhall asks. He also collected a few tweets that we should probably take a look at.

It should be noted that Andy Ngo was brutally assaulted by Antifa just a couple of weeks ago. This certainly looks like an escalation.

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But is this the beginning of continued escalation? When a Bernie Sanders supporter opened fire at congressional Republicans at a charity baseball practice, there was a concern we’d see more of the same, yet we didn’t. Not yet, anyway.

Of course, this is different. For one thing, few were hailing the shooter as a hero and martyr. Some were, but not many. This time, Antifa groups are holding him Van Spromsem as one.

My money is on expecting more. I also expect a diversity of targets. In other words, if you’re not carrying, you’d best start if at all possible. If not, well…I won’t tell you to break the law and carry anyway. However, I’d rather spend time in jail than an eternity in a coffin.

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