Police in Tacoma Washington shoot and kill a man with a rifle who tried to burn down an immigration detention center.

Migrants lined up at a detention center. Reuters. 

Police in Tacoma Washington shoot and kill a man with a rifle who tried to burn down an immigration detention center. Reuters. The man had lit a vehicle on fire and was attempting to set a propane tank on fire when police confronted and shot and killed him. No one else was injured or hurt in the attack. The detention center is owned by a private company. The attacker's identity and motive are still unknown. The attack came after a protest but it is unlikely they were involved in the attack. 

My Comment:

I consider this an act of domestic terrorism, assuming there aren't some kind of weird circumstances where this was a disgruntled employee or something. That's possible but fairly unlikely. My guess is that this was politically motivated. 

The media has worked activists up to a frenzy with false and exaggerated coverage of the border and ICE detention centers. They have even gone so far to compare them to concentration camps and death camps, which is hugely offensive and false. Plus there aren't many concentration camps where people travel hundreds of miles and break the law to even get to. 

It's not surprising to me that someone took the media frenzy seriously. If people seriously thought these were death camps, it's not too surprising that someone would try to and attack one. And even if they don't the attempt to make these facilities into something they are not, evil, always had a big chance of stirring up the crazies. 

I would not be surprised if the attacker was a member of a left wing group. La Raza is a good suspect, but they are rarely armed and probably don't have a huge presence in the Pacific Northwest. Antifa is a lot more likely as they are huge in Washington State. They also have a long history of violence but out and out arson is a little beyond what they usually do. They usually try to rumble with people in the streets, not acts of arson.

As far as attacks go though, this was an almost total failure. The attacker lost his life but didn't accomplish much of anything. All he did was burn a vehicle and fail to burn anything else. The ICE center isn't going to really be disrupted other than the shooting investigation. He essentially died for no reason without accomplishing his goals. 

I do worry that antifa and other leftist groups might make a martyr of this guy. Unlike the vast majority of antifa and other left wing groups, this guy actually did something. His action might encourage others, one of which might possibly be competent. That's not likely due to the general incompetence of left wing groups when it comes to organized violence, but it's always possible that someone competent could try something. 

As for ICE itself, it is good to see them making arrests and actually starting to deport people. That should be a huge priority for them but they have been stymied by left wing groups and politicians with the media not helping things. Violence like this won't stop them from doing their jobs though.