Pro-lifers sure do seem to have little regard for life. In this case, Tibet Ergul and Chance Brannon, an active-duty Marine, were arrested and charged with using an explosive or fire to damage real property in an attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa last year.
NBC News reports:
Tibet Ergul, 21, of Irvine, and Chance Brannon, 23, of San Juan Capistrano, an active-duty Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, are charged with using an explosive or fire to damage real property affecting interstate commerce, the U.S. attorney's office for Central California said in a statement.
A criminal complaint alleges they ignited and threw a Molotov cocktail at the clinic's entrance early March 13, 2022.
Damage was estimated at $1,050, and appointments for about 30 patients had to be rescheduled, the complaint says.
"My office takes very seriously this brazen attack that targeted a facility that provides critical health care services to thousands of people in Orange County," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the statement. "While it is fortunate that no one was physically harmed and responders were able to prevent the clinic from being destroyed, the defendants' violent actions are entirely unacceptable."
Security videos show the duo wearing hooded sweatshirts and masks as they approach the Planned Parenthood clinic at around 1:00 a.m. and throw a flaming device at the front door, according to federal prosecutors.
On April 3, a witness called the FBI's National Threat Operations Center claiming to be able to identify the people allegedly involved, according to the complaint. The witness, who said they knew the two men from high school, said Ergul sent texts admitting his involvement, the complaint says.
A day after the fire, the witness said, Ergul texted saying "he wished he 'could've recorded the combustion'" and sent a photo of a gloved hand holding a Molotov cocktail, according to the complaint. The photo was taken inside a car the witness believed to be Brannon's, the complaint says.
Thank goodness the witness has more sense than the two men do. This is not just an attack on a clinic. It's a growing conservative attack on women's rights. It's an attack on our bodily autonomy.
