Puyallup police planned for trouble when conservative activist was scheduled to speak
Records from the City of Puyallup show local law enforcement discussed and planned for potential threats ahead of a conservative activist’s scheduled appearance at a church earlier this month.
Motion Church invited Charlie Kirk to speak to its members May 2. The event later was canceled due to what a church leader described as safety concerns.
Kirk spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention in support of former President Donald Trump, describing him as the “bodyguard of Western Civilization.”
His nonprofit, Turning Point USA, describes its mission as “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.” Kirk wrote the books, “The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future” (2020) and “Campus Battlefield: How Conservatives can WIN the Battle on Campus and Why it Matters” (2018).
Motion Church Pastor Roger Archer previously told The News Tribune there were threats made against him and his congregation after word spread of Kirk’s scheduled appearance. Archer said the threats came from “antifa” and that he had discussed them with both Puyallup police and the FBI.
In broad terms, antifa is a political protest movement made up of mostly autonomous groups affiliated by an ardent opposition to fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideology.
The News Tribune sought comment from the Puyallup Police Department about the reported threats, but officials there did not respond.
The News Tribune then requested records and emails from the Police Department regarding Kirk’s appearance. Those records were released this week, although eight pages of emails between the department and the FBI were completely redacted. The FBI told Puyallup officials it would seek a court injunction if the city intended to release unredacted copies of FBI emails, Puyallup city employee Erika Sullivan told The News Tribune on Tuesday.
Emails that were released to The News Tribune showed Puyallup police communicated with other local law enforcement agencies about Kirk’s scheduled appearance. Information in one of those records was redacted. Puyallup officials justified the redaction by saying it contained “specific intelligence information which is essential to effective law enforcement.”
On April 17 after meeting with the church, Puyallup Chief Scott Engle sent the Tacoma Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff’s Department asking for help monitoring any activity that could potentially disrupt the event.
“Apparently, Mr. Kirk travels with a full security detail. The security detail is aware of chatter in the antifa circles that they are aware Mr. Kirk is coming to WA and ‘in the backyard’ of antifa due to the proximity of Portland and Seattle,” Engle said in an email. “In his prior speaking engagements this past year, per the Pastor, antifa has been traveling to those cities to cause disruption.”
Tacoma police replied that they would look into possible antifa plans and other activity that might develop.
Puyallup police are a part of the “Metro Tactical Response Team,” which responds to incidents in Bonney Lake, Fife, Milton, Orting, Puyallup and Sumner. An April 20 team agenda said the team would need to be “staged for the May 2nd church event.”
“He is an antifa critic, and we have received notification that there may be potential protests,” the agenda said.
A Facebook group was created to plan a “peaceful protest” of Kirk’s appearance. Nicholi Long, who organized the protest, previously told The News Tribune he is not affiliated with antifa, nor, to his knowledge, was anyone involved with the protest. Long said his group planned to stay on public property and did not discuss destruction of church property.
“His organization strikes a lot of alarms to a lot of LGBTQ and racial groups,” Long said of Kirk.
Engle also emailed Motion Church staff for Kirk’s security contact on April 21, according to public records.
“There is an organized protest our intelligence analysts have found that we are monitoring closely. We need to reach out to Mr. Kirk’s security person as quickly as possible,” he said in the email.
Church staff responded via email later that day: “We had a security (team) hired and in place and they have since backed out. Our team is working today to get one nailed down asap. Once I get word we have them locked in, I will pass along their contact information. “
After the event was canceled, Engle directed staff to set up public safety cameras around the church for the “next couple of weeks, as they are very nervous about damage to their property and facilities.”
Puyallup police Capt. Dan Pashon told The News Tribune on Wednesday that there have not been any police reports regarding Motion Church since the canceled event.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
