A 20-year-old Edmonds man was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle with two counts of arson and two counts of unlawful possession of a destructive device for his activities at a protest that turned violent in downtown Seattle.
Kelly Thomas Jackson was arrested Wednesday morning and was scheduled to appear later in the day in U.S. District Court.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office continues to work closely with state, local and federal law enforcement to prosecute those who turn protected speech into violent criminal conduct,” said U.S. Attorney Brian Moran. “Not every criminal act will implicate a federal interest, but where there is federal jurisdiction we will use our tools to hold law-breakers accountable.”
“These individuals are hijacking legitimate First Amendment protected activity. By investigating this violent activity, the messages of peaceful protests have a better chance of being heard,” said Raymond Duda, Special Agent in Charge FBI Seattle.
According to records filed in the case, following a May 30, 2020, demonstration in downtown Seattle, law enforcement was investigating a number of criminal acts, including the arson of a number of Seattle Police vehicles. Law enforcement has various videos of a white male suspect in distinctive clothing using glass containers with a flammable material and a wick to burn or attempt to burn two police vehicles.
According to a U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement, Jackson was identified as a potential suspect in the case after an anonymous tip to law enforcement. A detailed review of videos from the scene confirmed the suspect resembled Jackson, and a court-authorized analysis of cell phone records placed Jackson in the area at the time of the fires, the announcement said. Jackson was also observed wearing the same distinctive clothing as in the videos.
Finally, additional evidence obtained by law enforcement includes a video of the suspect throwing one Molotov cocktail into a police vehicle, another video of a glass bottle with a wick, and information that Jackson accessed web-based information on how to construct Molotov cocktails. The second Molotov cocktail was thrown at the windshield of a police vehicle, bounced off, and exploded in flames on the sidewalk outside the Nordstrom store.
Arson is punishable by a mandatory minimum five years in prison and up to 20 years in prison. Possession of a destructive device is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The charges contained in the complaint are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF).
Throw the book at him. A anarchist is a choice and he chose poorly. Needs a wake up call now or it will be murder tomorrow.
Yes, throw the book at him. The most important part about this story is how that is being done. He is facing Federal charges, and not city charges.
In fact, not charging protesters has been a public policy by Seattle city attorney Pete Holmes, who stated that “it is plain to me that peaceful protesters should not be prosecuted despite having been arrested during events that have sometimes devolved into violent and destructive confrontations.”
This has been the policy of Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt as well. Many Oregon Sheriff departments have refused to staff the violent Portland protests unless violent protesters are charged. Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said that “The only way to make Portland safe again, is to support a policy that holds offenders accountable for their destruction and violence. The same offenders are arrested night after night, only to be released by the court and not charged with a crime by the DA’s Office. The next night they are back at it, endangering the lives of law enforcement and the community all over again.”
The solution in Portland has been to Federally deputize many of the law enforcement at the protests to allow them to charge protests with Federal charges. Since local prosecutors and District Attorneys have stated flat out that they will not bring charges against violent protesters.
What I think many of the rogue prosecutors are misunderstanding is that violence at protests are counterproductive to the aims of the protest, bad for the City, and bad for the people hurt by it. Holding violent people accountable is one of the best ways to keep protests peaceful and successful. Giving the violence approval to continue without repercussion hurts everyone.
Expect an increase in Federal prosecutions no matter who wins the election.
I want them all arrested and charged and convicted and held by the Federal Gov. All of them. This was no and has never been a totally peaceful thing. And maybe the first few days?? It has been a riot and violent physically and verbally for months. There is no peaceful protest here. This is a mob plain and simple. ARREST THEM ALL You are out of compliance with your job to protect ALL citizens Mr. Mayor…State Authorities and Governor. This is all on you. All of it. The loss of your state.. The loss of Portland.. The loss of any respect from the rest of the nation. You are fools and you are going down. Its only a matter of time now.
Great to see this. Hopefully this will be the first of many.
Let’s hope that he quickly gets an appropriate sentence.
Mmmm . . . . . Didn’t I read something here about being presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial? If he did do this (apparently there is strong evidence he did), I would like to know what comes out at trial about why he did it, what groups he belongs to or desires to belong to and what he thought he was accomplishing by doing it. I feel the same about the people who drove into Portland riding in pick up beds, waving flags and firing paint guns at protesters they don’t agree with. Why weren’t these people arrested on the spot? Just because they label themselves militia on the side of law and order doesn’t make them right. Of course one is dead, because he took a pea shooter to a gun fight, when he could have been safe at home having a beer. As I said before violence just begets more violence and there are two armed camps itching for a fight with each other. I find it interesting that both this suspect and the dead militia guy in Portland were both White involved in BLM protests. Begs the question as to who the violent protesters really are I think.
THe violent protesters are both the far L and the far R. Neither catagory fits the Black community. This is white people mainly who either want to be Donald or Want to be a Socialist. Here I think its mainly the far L socialists as we don’t have as many of the others in this area of the state. Some but not a lot. So yes, rich kids from the suburbs like the one they have now for arson etc. Arrested. But yest most are above average income in their families. I suspect many live with their wealthy socialist leaning parents… And they are spoiled, rude, angry, very ignorant at what life is really about. Thats who. So let them be arrested and charged and convicted. let them carry those felonies around all their lives. No passport, No great IVY league schools for you!! No good jobs for you!! And that is how I see it. Maybe this will show them that they need to shut up. Grow up and stop destroying others and their jobs, property they worked hard for and cared about all of it. MAKE AN EXAMPLE of this and them. I think the adults their parents will get the point real fast. Maybe so civil suits..Against them too. ??
Clinton, I heard you are an elder in this community. This is unbecoming. Out of all the censorship, I am amazed that your apologies for violence are always available. Aaron Danielson wasn’t violent. I think you beget violence. Aaron was shot near his home. That is his community. He was hunted down for wearing a hat.
A good portion of the violence is Antifa members using the BLM marches for cover, but there are plenty of BLM members looting and being violent as well. Look up Black Visions Collective to find some pretty wacko people.
Interesting tib bit I typed Antifa.com into the address bar, for some reason it takes you to the Joe Biden for President website, makes you wonder where all that money the last couple of months he has been raising is coming from.
Twenty years old is pretty young and prison is a pretty harsh place. I definitely want to know more before I condemn a person to prison for 5 to 20 years.
And the partisan beat goes on with the argument that “my” violence is somehow better than “your” violence and “your” violence is somehow related to Biden. Give me a break; violent behavior is violent behavior and should be judged as such without the political bias and so called research and documentation from the internet. Most of that is nothing but partisan biased B.S.
Arrest violent people no matter what tee shirt or cap logo they are wearing, try them, and try to figure out what makes them tick so we can maybe have a prayer of getting past all this. My premise is that violent greedy people use violence to try to get what they want. It is happening on both sides and there will be a major blood bath in America if it doesn’t stop soon. Our police and other emergency personnel are stuck right in the middle of it.
The violence happens because people in their own little social circles are getting patted on the back for “doing something” and because they feel there is no real legal downside. Like the fireworks ban, if you get caught it is just $50 and not many get even that so lets go light off some fireworks. A little bit of violence becomes more and more as people stack their actions chasing the feeling. Look at the statues being torn down and the people that seemed to get a drug high from being a part of the moment, forget the fact that some were destroying statues of Fredrick Douglas and the 54th. It stopped as soon as Trump put in the 10 year sentance. Look at Portland, Seattle and Chicago, the only places that they stopped the protests right away was when they tried to set up in those Mayors neighborhoods. The rest of the time their DA’s say they are going to let protesters walk. Want to stop it, real easy, you get arrested its a 72 hour hold, not instant bail. Get caught 3 times and there is no bail.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/elections/visitors-to-antifacom-are-redirected-to-bidens-website-his-campaign-is-not-happy.html
To Anthony Aversario- I believe that particular conspiracy theory has been debunked. Did some searching of my own.
Melissa, I don’t think Biden has ever said the word “antifa” on the record. I looked at dozens of articles. Joe Biden cannot condemn antifa. Compare Joe Biden’s “…yes I do, but Trump dadada” to how Bernie Sanders condemned a mass-shooter who worked for him as a staffer:
https://people.com/politics/bernie-sanders-condemns-virginia-shooter/
Berni had to stop everything he was doing for weeks after that shooting. I disagree with him politically, but I really respect him for disavowing violence… unlike Joe Biden, our Mayor, Ted Wheeler, et all.
Melissa it can’t be a conspiracy theory if it is actually happening. How long has it been going on, reading the article is says for several weeks, and that was published a week ago. I noticed it last night looking up Antifa, why has it not stopped if Biden is not happy about it? Do you have a quote of Biden actually saying he is unhappy about it, reading the article and not the headline I don’t see anyone saying they are against Antifa.
In Washington it costs about $50k per year per inmate. A 5 year sentence would be $250k and a 20 year sentence would be $1m.
Hard to see any extenuating circumstances in this case other than his age and that its a property crime. If he could claim he was just there at a protest and got caught up in the mob mentality leading to a single bad decision after someone else pushed a device into his hand there might be some kind of wiggle room. But it seems they have multiple videos of him lighting/throwing multiple devices that he researched how to make at a prior time.
If he had of done this in a less liberal city and with the current tendency to multi charge crimes I could see him getting convicted of 7-10 counts and face 100 years. The Seattle DA might try to hold jurisdiction and present a slimmed case to convict him on lesser charges like happened in Portland with most of their arson suspects (many got probation). If the Feds are the ones to bring the charges even 5 years might be wishful thinking unless he roles over on other people.
Good post, Anthony…You are a welcome voice in this WOKE wilderness!