Shooting at ICE detention center in Tacoma: suspect Willem Van Spronsen killed in shooting involving officer, police say



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Agent Sam Lopez refuses protesters near the North West Detention Center on Saturday in Tacoma, Washington state. After launching incendiary devices on the center that day, a man armed with a rifle was shot and killed by police, authorities said. (Rebekah Welch / The Seattle Times / AP)

An armed man was shot dead Saturday after launching what the authorities called "incendiary devices" in a detention center for immigrants in Washington State and attempted to set fire to a propane tank. commercial size, according to the Tacoma police.

Around 4 am, 69-year-old Willem Van Spronsen launched "lighted objects" on buildings and cars in a parking lot, police said, blazing a vehicle. Court records show that the man was arrested last year during a protest at the private detention center. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have described this man as an "anti-immigration protester".

The man, a resident of Vashon Island, died on the scene after gunfire was fired, police said.

"This could have resulted in the mass murder of staff and inmates housed in this facility had he managed to burn the tank," said Shawn Fallah, head of the office's professional liability department. ICE, in a statement. "These are the kind of incidents that keep you awake at night."

No ICE employee or detainee was injured, said spokeswoman Tanya Roman at the Washington Post. The detention center canceled visits for the day but did not lock in, said Roman. The facility resumed operations on Sunday.

The attack took place as thousands of people protested against ICE facilities across the country, in anticipation of mass arrests of undocumented immigrants planned by the agency Sunday. The Trump administration said it would target about 2,000 families to evict, focusing on 10 cities. Seattle is not one of the cities that would be targeted.

The Tacoma detention center is owned and operated by a private company called GEO Group, according to the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which assesses the capacity of this center to 1,575 people, one of the largest detention centers for immigrants from the country. While the ICE faces calls to improve the conditions of migrants in its custody, some have called on the government to stop using private detention centers.

GEO spokesman Pablo Paez told The Post that the company was concerned about "the outrageous and unfounded accusations against our facilities that led to misplaced aggression and a dangerous environment for our employees" .

"Unlike the pictures of the other establishments on the front page, our establishments have never been overcrowded or accommodated with unaccompanied minors," he said in a statement.

According to court documents, Van Spronsen was arrested at Tacoma's premises in June 2018, among what one prosecutor described as a noisy protest scene including screams, pan shots, megaphones and horns.

In this incident, Van Spronsen threw himself on a policeman who was holding another protester in the center, according to the prosecutor's written account. Van Spronsen wrapped his arms around the officer's neck and shoulders to free the 17-year-old detainee.

Van Spronsen was escorted by dozens of screaming protesters, the prosecutor wrote. Officers took a stick and a folding knife that the man was wearing.

He pleaded guilty to embarrassing a law enforcement officer, according to the court's records.

Deb Bartley, who claimed to be a long-time friend of Van Spronsen, told the Seattle Times that she thought she had attacked the detention center on Saturday with the intention of dying.

"He was ready to stop it," she told The Times. "I think it was a suicide. But he was then able to do it in a way that reflected his political convictions. . . . I know that he went there knowing that he was going to die.

Bartley said Van Spronsen had left a "manifesto" that she did not share details, but that would be used by the authorities. She and others have received letters from Van Spronsen "saying goodbye," she said.

Loretta Cool, spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department, told the Post on Saturday that the police had no information to share about Van Spronsen's motivations for the attack.

The police department said in a statement that the officers who responded to the Saturday incident called "Van Spronsen" and that "shots were fired" without giving further details. Cool said that she did not know if the man killed had shot the rifle that he was carrying.

The man had flares on his body, the police said. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office reported that Van Spronsen was shot and wounded, according to the Times.

The police officers involved, who were not injured, withdrew and "medical relief was organized" nearby, police said. But after the officers approached the man, who appeared to still have his weapon, they found him dead.

The four officers – with experience in Tacoma police ranging from 20 years to nine months – were put on paid administrative leave, in accordance with department policy.

"We are extremely grateful to the officers from the Tacoma Police Department who responded quickly to the incident this morning outside the North West Detention Center," said Michael Melendez, director of the office. Acting external law enforcement operations and removals to ICE, in a statement. . "This incident could have resulted in many more casualties, without the courageous actions of all the officers involved."

The investigation continued on Saturday, police said, and authorities closed roads near the center while they were collecting evidence.

"The facilities normally work with inmates able to move inside the building," the police department said in a statement.

The visits will resume when the roads are reopened, police said. The department plans to disclose more information after the interviews with the agents involved. The detectives found Van Spronsen's home on Vashon Island and searched for evidence, with the help of Tacoma police and King County SWAT teams.

Closures around the detention center led a group called La Resistencia – who denounced the ICE deportations to postpone a protest scheduled for Saturday afternoon in the facility, the Times reported.

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