The incident in question happened last weekend in Summerville, South Carolina. Late Saturday night, emergency personnel responded to a fire which had broken out at Thomas Concrete. When they arrived they found two trucks in flames. That’s also when 23-year-old Seth Brock Spigner was seen coming out of the woods near the scene of the fire and getting into his car.
A person later identified as Spigner was seen emerging from the woods near the incident location, quickly walk to his vehicle, and leave the area, according to the DCSO. Deputies conducted a traffic stop on Spigner, who displayed nervousness and had specks of red paint in the cracks of his fingernails.
Deputies say they later discovered multiple trucks at the property had messages written in red spray paint. The messages appeared to reference the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, GA, which is the focus of the extremist group Climate Justice Alliance. Climate Justice Alliance is protesting the construction of a law enforcement training facility in the forest.
It’s more clear cut than that sounds:
Investigators later obtained video surveillance footage that showed a tall male entering the property at 12:24 a.m. carrying a white canister. The individual removed several fuel caps and set two trucks on fire before leaving the scene.
Messages including “From Weelaunee” and “You build it, we burn it” were painted on several trucks using red spray paint.
Weelaunee is what the opponents of the Atlanta police training center call the forest and “You build it, we burn it” is something that the same activists have chanted publicly many times. Spigner has been charged with second-degree arson and is being held on 25,000 bond.
But it turns out this wasn’t a one off incident. A month earlier there was vandalism at another Thomas Cement site in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Around 6 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2023, Raleigh police found eight trucks at Thomas Cement’s plant on North West street damaged. The report gives no information about what damage was done, and a police spokesman did not respond to a follow-up question requesting that detail.
The damage totaled $14,400, with the damage to trucks ranging from $300 to $2,500, according to the report.
Additionally, the report said vandals broke three windows by throwing rocks through them and spray painted “stop cop city” on a wall.
In case that isn’t clear enough, the blog Defend the Atlanta Forest, which is closely associated with the protest, published an account of the Raleigh vandalism written by the vandals themselves:
On the night of November 19th, we snuck onto the Raleigh worksite of Thomas Concrete, one of several southeastern companies contracted to help build Cop City. We smashed the windos of their office, disabled a half dozen or so concrete trucks by cutting their tires’ valve stems, and left “Stop Cop City” and “For Tort” painted around the site.
Thomas Concrete has multiple offices and worksites throughout the Southeast. We encourage others to visit them day and night, in groups large and small. We also salute the recent attack on Ernst concrete trucks, and hope people keep the pressure up on Brasfield and Gorrie too!
“For Tort” is a reference Tortuguita the activist (pictured above) who was shot and killed in the forest last year by police after he opened fire with his own gun. But in case it’s still not clear enough, the same site published another blog post highlighting Thomas Concrete as a potential target. The post is titled “List of companies who have pulled from the cop city project and list of contractors who have not.” I’m not going to link it but it’s not hard to find.
Currently the contractors/subcontractors involved that I would like to bring attention to is:
Brassfield and Gorrie
Nationwide
Brent Scarbrough & Company
Accident Fund General Insurance Company
Thomas ConcreteThese contractors are the ones directly responsible for whether or not the police training facility is built.
Both of these incidents followed another one that took place in Lawrenceville, Georgia in mid-November. The company targeted in that arson was Ernst Construction.
Fire authorities are investigating a suspected arson in Lawrenceville that broke out Tuesday morning.
Crews were called to a business fire on Seaboard Industrial Drive NE at 2:34 a.m., after a 911 caller reported the flames. Firefighters arrived to find work vehicles owned by a concrete company burning behind the business.
The people associated with this Stop Cop City group are using threats and arson against businesses in an attempt to shut down the construction of the training center. They have also been clear that their motives are political. It sounds like textbook terrorism to me.
The acts of arson by this group are nothing new. Just a few weeks ago, police put out a $200,000 reward out for information identifying those responsible for several acts of arson in the Atlanta area connected to the Stop Cop City effort.