Five years ago, several masked vandals waged a violent attack on downtown Atlanta’s immigration field office and then scattered into the summer night.
The group hurled rocks, cinderblocks and bottles of lighter fluid at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. Officials said they shattered windows and caused more than $78,000 in damage to the building on Ted Turner Drive, one of several incidents that turned destructive amid the many protests against law enforcement agencies and racial injustice that took place nationwide in 2020.
On Friday — more than five years after the July 25, 2020, incident — federal authorities announced the unsealing of charges against a suspect they say was involved in the Atlanta ICE office vandalism. The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Ronald Scott Watson, 28, of Kennesaw. Watson also uses the names Sarah Watson, Victoria Watson, Miranda Kyle and Emily Smith and faces charges of arson and destruction of government property, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The right to peacefully protest never excuses acts of violence, like smashing windows and attempting to set fire to a government building,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. “Anyone who perpetrates or threatens violence against federal officers or property must be identified, found and held accountable.”
Watson is the second person to be prosecuted in connection to the case by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Georgia. In 2023, Richard Tyler Hunsinger of Fairfax, Virginia, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for his role in the attack.
Hunsinger organized the protest, dubbed the “Rally against Fascism,” and later smashed windows with a hammer and lit and threw a Molotov cocktail into the building, where at least two federal employees were inside, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. He pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer and destruction of government property, the AJC reported.
While the vandals attempted to take cover by donning masks and dark clothing, authorities said they “identified Watson based on evidence collected following his January 2023 felony conviction for assaulting a public safety officer in Oregon.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not provide additional details about that conviction.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Watson allegedly posted numerous social media messages denouncing the federal immigration agency before the attack on the Atlanta office. Watson also claimed online to have “thrown bricks” and taken other actions, the DOJ said in its statement.
Watson has several tattoos, including a woman plowing and a “fish skull fence” on the left arm and three faces on the right, according to authorities. Watson, whom officials said “may be dressing in women’s clothing,” has ties to Atlanta and Portland, Oregon.
The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the case. Anyone with information about Watson is asked to contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 800-CALL-FBI.
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