His target, the Tacoma Northwest Detention Centre, has long served as a holding facility for migrants as they are about to be deported…

Officers confirmed Van Spronsen was shot dead at the scene, with all four attending officers discharging their weapons.

He was described locally as a committed anarchist and antifascist. One friend of twenty years, Deb Bartley, told The Seattle Times she and others had received letters from him which read “just saying goodbye” along with what she described as a manifesto.

She added: “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.”