Jesse Young’s claims about antifa in Gig Harbor raise eyebrows, questions

State Rep. Jesse Young (R-Gig Harbor) startled more than a few viewers of a Chamber of Commerce forum last Thursday when he declared the mayor and police chief had warned him “antifa was coming” to a Black Lives protest in Gig Harbor in June.

He went on to say that Chief Kelly Busey “confiscated multiple cans of gasoline” that had been “stationed” in bushes near the protest site on Point Fosdick Drive.

Both Mayor Kit Kuhn and Chief Busey denied that anything like that happened. Young responded by calling both men liars.

About 200 people, mostly teenagers and young adults, attended the protest rally on June 3, waving signs and shouting slogans in support of black Americans protesting police shootings. The road borders the Uptown Gig Harbor shopping center.

Young and several men carrying rifles or shotguns also attended. Young carried a sign that said, “Attention protesters. Peaceful protest is OK, but attacks on persons or property will not be tolerated.” He later distanced himself from the armed men, saying they had not arrived together.

In response to a question in the video forum on Thursday, Oct. 22, Young said he showed up because he had been warned that anti-fascist activists, known loosely as “antifa,” would try to infiltrate the protest.

“I called the mayor and he confirmed that antifa was coming, and so did the police chief,” he said.

Antifa activists “use peaceful rallies by students as a front to try to burn (stores) down or look for opportunities to pillage,” he said. “If we don’t stand up to antifa,” he said another point, “we’re going to have a CHAZ or a CHOP right here in our district” — a reference to the so-called Capital Hill Autonomous Zone set up by demonstrators in Seattle.

He went on to say, “The chief of police confiscated multiple cans of gasoline at that rally in June. How did multiple cans of gasoline get stationed behind bushes over by First Citizens’ Bank?”

Busey told The Gateway he had “no evidence or intelligence that antifa was coming to Gig Harbor,” and had never had a conversation with the mayor or anyone else about antifa.

“As far as Jesse’s claim that there were gas cans staged anywhere in the bushes, that’s completely fictional,” Busey said. “If we had found such a thing, I would have treated it as a crime scene and called the FBI.”

At one point during the protest, Busey said, a gas can fell off a passing landscaping truck. “I took the empty gas can to my car and put it in the trunk,” he said. “That’s all that ever happened, and it was completely unrelated to the protest.”

Mayor Kuhn also denied Young’s claims.

“None of this happened,” he said on his weekly video conference on Friday. “There was no advance intelligence that antifa was planning to come to Gig Harbor, nor did we encounter anyone associated with that group during any of our peaceful protests.”

“The claims by Rep. Young are outrageous,” the mayor said. “These comments undermine my credibility, the credibility of our Police Chief and police department, and erode confidence in public safety.”

In an email to the Gateway on Monday, Young did not back down, calling both the mayor and the police chief liars, and challenging them to a polygraph test.

“I unequivocally stand by my forum answer, as well as the testimony of many witnesses who were there,” he wrote.

Young said Kuhn had changed his story about the warning, saying in a telephone conversation with Young on Friday that he had only said “bad groups” were coming, not antifa specifically. That is a lie, Young said.

“He is simply not an honest man, in my opinion,” Young said.

This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 5:30 AM.