Incident Summary:
09/21/1998: Two members of the Animal and Earth Liberation Fronts (ALF and ELF), Jacob Ferguson and Kendall Tankersley, placed eleven incendiary devices in logging trucks in the parking lot of the Redwood Coast Trucking Company in Arcata, California in the United States. One incendiary ignited, completely destroying the truck and causing a loss of $40,000. The other ten incendiaries failed to function properly. There were no casualties in the incident. After placing the incendiaries at the Redwood trucking company, the two drove to another trucking company nearby and attempted to set arson there as well. Ferguson and Tankersley were part of a group calling themselves "The Family," which committed nearly 20 arson and ecotage attacks over a 6 year period. Neither Ferguson nor Tankersley was ever charged or convicted for this particular incident, but both were sentenced for other arsons during the 6 year time period.
Overview
GTD ID:
199809210002
When:
1998-09-21
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
California
City:
Arcata
Location Details:
at Redwood Coast Trucking Company at 2210 Peninsula Drive in Arcata, California
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Facility/Infrastructure Attack |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Business |
Name of Entity |
Redwood Coast Trucking Company |
Specific Description |
trucking and logging company in Arcata, California |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Minor (likely < $1 million) |
Value of Property Damage |
$40,000.00 |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Incendiary |
Gasoline or Alcohol |
Weapon Details |
the incendiaries were composed of fuel poured from large containers into 11 one-gallon plastic milk jugs and three timing devices, consisting of wooden matches wrapped around an incense stick and held in place by a rubber band, and then placed into a single sponge soaked with fuel; the sponge was then placed in the handle of the one-gallon plastic milk jugs |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
Incident occurred at about 1:30am. Ferguson and Tankersley were part of a group calling themselves "The Family," which committed nearly 20 arson and ecotage attacks over a 6 year period. Neither Ferguson nor Tankersley was ever charged or convicted for this particular incident, but both were sentenced for other arsons during the 6 year time period. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
2 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
2 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
U.S. Government’s Sentencing Memorandum for CR 06-60069, CR 06-60070, CR 06-60071, CR 06-60078, CR 06-60079, CR 06-60080, CR 06-60120, CR 06-60122, CR 06-60123, CR 06-60124, CR06-60125, and CR 06-60126. U.S. District Court: District of Oregon, Eugene, 2007. |
Brent L. Smith and Kelly R. Damphousse, " Patterns of precursor behaviors in the life span of a U.S. environmental terrorist group," Criminology & Public Policy, Volume 8, Issue 3, 2009. |
"USA v. Tankersley," United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, August 12, 2008. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties