The United States city of Seattle has been the site of occasional, small-scale terrorist incidents. [1] Though several locations in the city have been discovered on target lists of known terrorist cells, as of 2014 the city's Office of Emergency Management believed that a "large-scale attack seems like a low probability event". [1] A 2006 report by the United States Department of Justice indicated that the Washington State Ferries, which have several facilities in Seattle, was the leading "target for maritime terrorism in this country". [2]
Name | Date | Outcome | Group | Motive | Means | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ole Hanson Mail Bomb | April 19, 1919 | Not successful | Galleanists | Anarchism | explosives | A mail bomb sent to Mayor Ole Hanson, part of a nationwide bombing campaign, failed to detonate. [3] |
Theater bombings | 1928 (various dates) | Successful | none (lone wolf) | Labor unrest | explosives | Six movie theaters were bombed over the course of a year. [4] |
Sniper attack | July 30, 1968 | Successful | Black Panther Party | Black nationalism | firearms | Two police officers were injured after their vehicle was hit by sniper fire. In riots that followed, snipers injured two additional police officers and three civilians. [5] [6] |
UW Administration Building bombing | June 29, 1969 | Successful | unknown | unknown | explosives | The University of Washington Administration Building (later renamed Gerberding Hall) was bombed, causing an estimated $300,000 in damages. There were no casualties and no claims of responsibility. [7] [8] |
Clark Hall bombing attempt | January 1970 | Not successful | Seattle Weather Collective | Communist revolution | explosives | Silas and Judith Bissell attempted to bomb the University of Washington's Clark Hall, the campus ROTC building. They were arrested after the explosives failed to detonate. [9] |
First 1975 Safeway bombing | September 14, 1975 | Not successful | George Jackson Brigade | Black nationalism | explosives | Ralph Patrick Ford, a suspected George Jackson Brigade member, was killed when the explosives he was trying to plant at a Safeway grocery store detonated prematurely. [10] |
Second 1975 Safeway bombing | September 17, 1975 | Successful | George Jackson Brigade | Black nationalism | explosives | Seven people were injured in the bombing of the same grocery store in a failed attack on September 14. [11] |
Laurelhurst City Light bombing | December 31, 1975 | Successful | George Jackson Brigade | Black nationalism | explosives | The Laurelhurst sub-station of Seattle City Light was bombed by the George Jackson Brigade as part of a string of regional attacks that included bombing two different Safeway properties in Bellevue, Washington. There were no injuries. [12] [13] [11] |
John Sherman escape | March 10, 1976 | Successful | George Jackson Brigade | Black nationalism | firearms | Mark Cook, a member of the George Jackson Brigade, ambushed and shot a police officer escorting John Sherman, another Brigade member arrested previously following a shoot-out with police in Tukwila, Washington. [14] |
anti-Pahlavi theater attack | December 1, 1983 | Not successful | none (ad hoc) | Iranian Revolution | arson | A group of anti-Pahlavi students planned to lock the doors to a theater in which 500 pro-Pahlavi Iranians and Iranian-Americans had gathered, prior to setting it on fire. The attempt was thwarted by the FBI and local law enforcement. [15] |
The Order armored car robbery | April 23, 1984 | Successful | The Order | White supremacism | firearms, explosives | Seven members of the white supremacist group The Order stole $536,000 from an armored car at the Northgate Mall. Prior to the robbery, a diversionary bombing at a nearby business was staged. [16] |
Jamaat ul-Fuqra bombings | June 17, 1984 | Successful | Jamaat ul-Fuqra | Islamic extremism | explosives | The Integral Yoga Society, a Hindu religious institution, and the Vendanta Society were bombed. Stephen Paster, a Jamaat ul-Fuqra member, was later arrested and convicted of the attacks. |
Millennium Bombing | December 31, 1999 | Not successful | Al Qaeda | Islamic extremism | explosives | Authorities believed a Montreal-based terrorist cell connected to Osama bin-Laden planned to destroy the Space Needle during New Year's Eve celebrations. The plan fell apart after Ahmed Ressam was arrested attempting to cross the United States-Canadian border with explosives. New Year's Eve celebrations near Seattle's Space Needle were canceled as a precaution. It was later learned the actual target was the Los Angeles International Airport. [17] |
University of Washington firebombing incident | May 21, 2001 | Successful | Earth Liberation Front | Eco-terrorism | explosives | A firebomb detonated at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture resulted in between $1.5 and $4.1 million in damages. There were no casualties. By 2012 four of five accused conspirators behind the attack admitted their guilt in plea bargains. A fifth committed suicide in federal detention while awaiting trial. [18] |
McDonald's arson | January 20, 2003 | Successful | Earth Liberation Front | Eco-terrorism | arson | A New Jersey man, who was later arrested, set fire to the McDonald's corporate logo on the roof of a McDonald's restaurant near the Space Needle. In a subsequent voicemail to authorities, the man claimed the action was an "E-L-F ... hit" and "there will be more". [19] |
Molly Norris hit | July 11, 2010 | Not successful | Al Qaeda | Islamic extremism | unknown | Anwar al-Awlaki issues a call for the killing of Seattle-based cartoonist Molly Norris. [7] As of 2015, Norris remains in hiding. [20] |
MEPS attack | July 5, 2011 | Not successful | none (ad hoc) | Islamic extremism | explosives, firearms | Two men planned to attack the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) on East Marginal Way in Seattle on July 5, 2011. The plan fell apart after they attempted to recruit a third man who informed police. [21] [7] |
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of intentional violence and fear to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war against non-combatants. There are various different definitions of terrorism, with no universal agreement about it.
The Order, also known as the Brüder Schweigen and Silent Brotherhood, was a Neo-Nazi terrorist organization active in the United States between September 1983 and December 1984. The group raised funds via armed robbery. Ten members were tried and convicted for racketeering, and two for their role in the 1984 murder of radio talk show host Alan Berg.
Eco-terrorism is an act of violence which is committed in support of environmental causes, against people or property.
A series of Islamist terrorist attacks linked to al-Qaeda were planned to occur on or near January 1, 2000, in the context of millennium celebrations, including bombing plots against four tourist sites in Jordan, the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), USS The Sullivans, and the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814.
Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is an American locally-based multi-agency partnership between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism and terrorism-related crimes, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice. The first JTTFs were established before the September 11 attacks, with their numbers increasing dramatically in the years after.
Terrorism and mass attacks in Canada includes acts of terrorism, as well as mass shootings, vehicle-ramming attacks, mass stabbings, and other such acts committed in Canada that people may associate with terroristic tactics but have not been classified as terrorism by the Canadian legal system.
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) was a far-right survivalist anti-government militia which advocated Christian Identity and was active in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s. The CSA developed from a Baptist congregation, the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church, which was founded in 1971 in Pontiac, Missouri. Over time, Zarephath-Horeb evolved into an extremist militant group and it was rechristened the CSA. The group operated a large compound in northern Arkansas which was known as "the Farm".
Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 was a Cuban flight from Barbados to Jamaica that was brought down on 6 October 1976 by a terrorist bomb attack. All 73 people on board the Douglas DC-8 aircraft were killed after two time bombs went off and the plane crashed into the sea. The crash killed every member of the Cuban national fencing team.
In the United States, domestic terrorism is defined as terrorist acts that were carried out within the United States by U.S. citizens and/or U.S. permanent residents. As of 2021, the United States government considers white supremacists to be the top domestic terrorism threat.
Operation Backfire is a multi-agency criminal investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into destructive acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes in the United States described as eco-terrorism by the FBI. The operation resulted in convictions and imprisonment of a number of people, many of whom were members of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front.
Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies. It can be motivated by Ultranationalism, neo-Nazism, anti-communism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, ethnonationalism, religious nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-semitism, anti-government sentiment, patriot movements, sovereign citizen beliefs, and occasionally, it can be motivated by opposition to abortion, tax resistance, and homophobia. Modern right-wing terrorism largely emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s, and after the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it emerged in Eastern Europe and Russia.
An incident response team (IRT) or emergency response team (ERT) is a group of people who prepare for and respond to an emergency, such as a natural disaster or an interruption of business operations. Incident response teams are common in public service organizations as well as in other organizations, either military or specialty. This team is generally composed of specific members designated before an incident occurs, although under certain circumstances the team may be an ad hoc group of willing volunteers.
Swatting is a criminal harassment act of deceiving an emergency service into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or a false report of a mental health emergency, such as reporting that a person is allegedly suicidal or homicidal and may be armed, among other things.
In the United States, a common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence in order to create a general climate of fear to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. This article serves as a list and a compilation of acts of terrorism, attempts to commit acts of terrorism, and other such items which pertain to terrorist activities which are engaged in by non-state actors or spies who are acting in the interests of state actors or persons who are acting without the approval of foreign governments within the domestic borders of the United States.
The University of Washington firebombing incident was an arson which took place in the early morning hours of May 21, 2001 when a firebomb was set off at Merrill Hall, a part of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, causing an estimated $1.5 to $4.1 million in damages. By 2012 four of five accused conspirators behind the attack admitted their guilt in plea bargains. A fifth committed suicide in federal detention while awaiting trial.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the past and present terrorism in the United States:
This is a timeline of terrorist attacks in the United States throughout history.