Man dead in cell after attack at migrant jail
Print Edition
A 69-year-old man, armed with a rifle, threw incendiary devices at an immigration jail in Washington state early Saturday morning, then was found dead after four police officers arrived and opened fire, authorities said.
The Tacoma Police Department said the officers responded about 4am to the privately run Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, a US Department of Homeland Security detention facility that holds migrants pending deportation proceedings. The detention center has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under US President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, an effort meant to deter illegal immigration.
The shooting took place about six hours after a peaceful rally in front of the detention center, police spokesman Loretta Cool said.
On Saturday night, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as Willem Van Spronsen of Vashon Island, the Tacoma News-Tribune and the Seattle Times reported.
Police said Van Spronsen caused a vehicle to catch fire, attempted to ignite a large propane tank and set buildings on fire. Police said that besides the rifle, he had a satchel and flares.
Police said officers called out to Van Spronsen and shots were fired.
Officers forced to take cover
Cool said all four officers fired their weapons but she didn’t have specific details of what took place. She said the officers weren’t wearing body cameras but the area is covered by surveillance cameras from the detention center. She said she didn’t know if the man fired at the officers.
After the gunfire, officers took cover, contained the area and set up medical aid a short distance away, police said.
Officers then located Van Spronsen and determined he had been shot and was dead at the scene.
Authorities said investigators were processing the scene and police were continuing to investigate. No law enforcement officers were injured. The four Tacoma police officers who fired their weapons have been placed on paid administrative leave as is standard in officer-involved shootings.
A friend of Van Spronsen said that she thought he wanted to provoke a fatal conflict, the Seattle Times reported.
Deb Bartley, who told the Times she had been a friend of Willem Van Spronsen’s for about 20 years, described him as an anarchist and anti-fascist, and believed his attack on the detention center intending to provoke a fatal conflict.
“He was ready to end it,” Bartley said. “I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs. I know he went down there knowing he was going to die.”
She said that she and other friends of Van Spronsen got letters in the mail “just saying goodbye.” He also wrote what she referred to as a manifesto, which she declined to discuss in detail, the Times reported.
Van Spronsen was accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest outside the detention center in 2018, The News-Tribune reported.
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