Charges have been filed in the firebombing incident at Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s office in Kansas City, September 11, 2014.

Eric G. King, a 28 year old local anarchist, was caught on surveillance tapes throwing two lit alcohol bottles into the office and running away.

Via The Kansas City Star:



Kansas City police initially identified King as a suspect because he previously had come under scrutiny during an investigation of anti-government graffiti on a local Bank of America building and the spray painting of Kansas City police vehicles, according to federal court records. Video surveillance records showed that someone walked up to Cleaver’s office at 101 W. 31st St. at 2:52 a.m. Sept. 11 and threw a hammer through a window. The person then threw a flaming bottle at the window, but bounced it off the building. The person threw a second bottle at the window and ran from the area. Investigators found no fire damage on or in the building, according to court records.

When he was arrested, the police reportedly found a handwritten letter with instructions on how to start the fires, along with a confession of the crime; “The arsons committed on Sept 11, 2014 were committed solely by the KC FIGHT BACK Insurrectionist Collective.” The letter also indicates that the firebombing was done “in solidarity with Ferguson, Mo” and to “memorialize those who died in Chile under the reign of a U.S. -backed dictator and lives lost in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.”

According to court records, King used social media to spread his anti-government, anarchist views.



Investigators also tracked Facebook postings purportedly linked to King, including one from Sept. 10 that noted action by a group called the KC Fight Back Insurrectionist Collective.

“KC Fight Back has been … serious in its insurrection activity, and that is the thing that is giving me the most pride in my life,” the post said.



An earlier post noted “these cops aren’t going to kill themselves, get to the streets.”





King will make his initial appearance in federal court on Thursday morning.