Trans Antifa arrested over Seattle police station firebombing

Original publication date: December 30, 2020

A third militant Antifa has been arrested and charged with arson over a firebombing attack on a Seattle police station.

Jeremy Michael Haines, 34, of Bremerton, Wash., was arrested by Seattle police earlier this month and charged with attempted first-degree arson.

Haines, who is transsexual and is also known by the name “Naomi Cassandra Krell,” has been arrested multiple times this year at violent Antifa protests. But the latest serious felony charge makes her the third suspect arrested over a firebombing attack on an occupied Seattle police station in September.

Haines is accused by the State of Washington of being part of a mob who carried out an organized attempt to burn down the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct on Sept. 1. Ex-realtor Danielle Elizabeth McMillian and Jacob Bennet Greenburg, the two other identified suspects, were arrested and charged in October.

On the night of the attack, around 100 Antifa dressed in black bloc and riot gear gathered at Cal Anderson Park, the location of the previous “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ). They then marched to the adjacent police station where they proceeded to carry out a coordinated firebombing using Molotov cocktails.

According to the criminal complaint, Haines was armed with a baseball bat and used a large umbrella to shield McMillan while she lit the wick of a Molotov cocktail, which was thrown toward the police station but failed to ignite. Antifa use umbrellas to shield themselves and their comrades from CCTV cameras and journalists while in the act of preparing or carrying out criminal activities.

The complaint says that Haines next shielded Greenburg from view, who successfully threw an incendiary device at the East Precinct that ignited into flames.

Officers extinguished the fire and detectives from the Arson Bomb Squad recovered evidence of the three incendiary devices. No arrests were made that night.

“It is clear from a review of the incident that this was a well-coordinated, non-spontaneous incendiary attack on the East Precinct as officers were inside the precinct,” states the detective in the affidavit. “The group had clearly orchestrated the obscuring of security cameras, and the shielding of the criminal actors as they prepared their Molotov cocktails for throwing.”

Detectives were able to identify Haines weeks after the firebombings because she had been arrested or stopped multiple times at subsequent violent antifa protests and riots, each time wearing articles of clothing that uniquely matched the wanted suspect.

On Sept. 23, Antifa smashed businesses during a street march in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. They assaulted responding police with bottles and rocks. Haines allegedly tried to stop police from making arrests. She was charged with obstruction but the charge was later dismissed. Haines’ alleged firebombing accomplice, Greenburg, who is the son of a former Washington state Democrat lawmaker, was also charged with bashing a police officer on the head with a metal bat during that riot.

Then on Oct. 12, Haines was stopped by police at another violent protest where she matched the description of someone who was damaging property in downtown Seattle.

Two days later, Haines was allegedly part of an antifa black bloc group that began moving piles of garbage to the East Precinct. She was arrested and charged with illegal dumping and criminal mischief.

In addition to Haines’ alleged riotous activities, she also used her social media reach to call for comrades to stockpile supplies at the second iteration of CHAZ in Cal Anderson Park. That barricaded encampment was forcibly dismantled by the city in mid-December following months of complaints by residents and business owners.

On the day of her initial arrest on Nov. 2, Haines was served a search warrant. Law enforcement seized Haines’ unique identifying attire at her residence in Bremerton, Wash. She was originally charged with arson but that was downgraded to attempted arson on Dec. 14, when she was re-arrested. However, she was released without bail within an hour of booking because she does not have a known criminal history.

Haines declined to comment for this report. Her next court date is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2021.