Incident Summary:
3/30/2001: Five members of the Animal and Earth Liberations Fronts (ALF and ELF), Stanislas Meyerhoff, Kevin Tubbs, William Rodgers, Nathan Block, and Joyanna Zacher, used an incendiary device and fuel soaked cloths to set arson to the Romania Chevrolet Truck Center lot in Eugene, Oregon in the United States, causing damage to 35 sport utility vehicles (SUVs), all 2001 Chevrolet Suburbans or Tahoes. The total property loss was $959,000. There were no casualties in the incident. The site was chosen as a “statement of defiance,” in honor of Jeffrey Luers, another environmentalist, who had been charged for an earlier arson at the same location. The perpetrators sent out an anonymous communiqué (making no reference of ELF), claiming responsibility for the arson, speaking out against the prison system, and stating, "the techno-industrial state thinks it can stop the growing resistance by jailing some of us, but they cannot jail the spirit of those who know another world is possible." The perpetrators were part of a group calling themselves "The Family," which committed nearly 20 arson and ecotage attacks over a 6 year period.
Overview
GTD ID:
200103300002
When:
2001-03-30
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Oregon
City:
Eugene
Location Details:
at the Romania Chevrolet Truck Center lot at 1425 Walnut Street in Eugene, OR
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Facility/Infrastructure Attack |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Business |
Name of Entity |
Romania Chevrolet Truck Center |
Specific Description |
sport utility vehicles at the Romania Chevrolet Truck Center lot |
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 |
$959,000.00 |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Incendiary |
Gasoline or Alcohol |
Weapon Details |
more than 20 two-gallon containers filled with gasoline and sheets of cloth soaked in gasoline, joining the vehicles |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
The incident occurred at approximately 2:40 a.m. The communiqué made no reference to ELF or ALF, but it was discovered through court documents that the perpetrators who committed the incident were part of a group calling themselves "The Family, "which was made up of members of both ELF and ALF, and various combinations of members from the group committed nearly 20 arson and ecotage attacks over a 6 year period. Tubbs was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison, Meyerhoff was sentenced to 13 years in prison, Block and Zacher were each sentenced to 92 months in prison, and William Rodgers committed suicide while in custody awaiting transportation back to Oregon. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
5 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
5 |
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. |
FBI, "Terrorism 2000/2001,"FBI, DOJ, 2001. |
Legal Affairs Editors, "Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front Members Sentenced in Oregon for Acts of Eco-Terrorism in Five Western States," PR Newswire Association LLC, Public Interest Services, June 5, 2007. |
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