Man with flares and a rifle shot dead at immigration jail in Tacoma

An armed man who had been throwing explosives at the immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington, was shot dead by police on Saturday morning.

The man’s identity has not been released, nor has it been determined why he was trying to light the jail on fire. Tacoma police responded to the jail, at 1600 East J Street, at 4 a.m.

The man wore a satchel and had flares on him, according to police. He had set fire to a vehicle and had attempted to light a large propane tank. He continued to throw lit objects at cars in the jail parking lot and at the buildings.

Police called out to the man, according to a press statement released by Tacoma police, and then fired at the man.

Using cover, they approached him and found that he had been shot. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Tacoma police. No police were injured.

The Tacoma Northwest Detention Center is a privately run jail that holds migrants as they wait for deportation proceedings. The center has held parents who were separated from their children under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, according to the Associated Press.

The GEO Group owns the 1,575-bed jail. In an email to the Associated Press, a company spokesperson said that “baseless accusations” about how immigrants are treated there "have led to misplaced aggression and a dangerous environment for our employees, whose safety is our top priority.”

The GEO group said in the email that its immigrant jail in Tacoma has modern amenities with air conditioning, recreational activities, a bed for every individual and medical care available at all hours.

The jail has been a hub of controversy, with protests held there almost every day and some immigrants going on hunger strike to shed light on their cases.

In November, a 40-year-old immigrant from a Siberian province in Russia died after an ongoing hunger strike. Based on his communication with an attorney, it appears his hunger strike related to his case and also the conditions of the Tacoma jail.

The state of Washington has also sued the company for not paying the immigrants there minimum wage for work done there.