A Florida man has been accused of helping a U.S. Marine and his accomplice carry out a firebombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in California, The Mercury News reported.
Xavier Batten, Chance Brannon, who was an active duty Marine at the time, and Tibet Ergul have all been charged with conspiracy and malicious destruction of property by fire or explosion. Batten was arrested this Friday after being tied to the March 12, 2022, incident at the Costa Mesa clinic. Brannon and Ergul were each charged with possessing an unregistered destructive device and intentionally damaging a reproductive health clinic.
“This attack was not random,”U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said. “[The suspects] planned a concerted effort to attack the clinic on account of the services it provided, namely reproductive-health services.”
Estrada told reporters that the men are “friends or acquaintances who got to know each other through various means, including through discussions on the internet." In regards to a motive for the attack, Estrada said “there are strong indications of animus toward women.”
Brannon and Ergul have pleaded not guilty.
"Two masked figures — later identified by authorities as Brannon and Ergul — jogged up to the Planned Parenthood during the early morning hours, ignited a Molotov cocktail and threw it against the front door of the clinic before running away, an FBI agent says in a court document based on surveillance video," The Mercury News' report stated. "The wall next to the clinic door erupted in fire, and flames spread up the wall and across the ceiling before firefighters arrived and quickly extinguished the blaze. No one was injured, but authorities say around 30 appointments were cancelled when the clinic was forced to close the following morning."
Read the full report over at The Mercury News.
