A Delaware man has been arrested and charged with federal crimes after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Delaware Planned Parenthood clinic last Friday night.
18-year-old Samuel James Gulick has been charged with maliciously damaging a building with fire or a destructive device and intentionally damaging a facility that provides reproductive health services. If convicted he faces a $250,000 fine and up to 20 years in prison.
At around 2:15 a.m. on January 3 a surveillance video captured a man approaching the Delaware clinic and spray-painting the term “Deus Vult”, or “God wills it”, on the front of the building. The phrase is often associated with the white nationalist movement. Gulick then walked off the porch and pulled the Molotov cocktail out of a plastic bag, lit it, and threw it at the front door of the building. The device extinguished itself after about a minute, damaging the front window and porch of the clinic.
The car’s license plate was captured on video surveillance, which was registered to Gulick’s father, and law enforcement was able to identify the suspect through his social media which contained numerous anti-abortion posts. His avatar was a cartoon of Pepe the Frog, an image widely associated with white nationalists and the alt-right. Gulick was arrested by FBI agents on January 4th.
The FBI is investigating the case, alongside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Newark Police Department. He will appear in court for a detention hearing on Friday.
Sources: The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/7/20; The Newark Post 1/6/20; FOX 43 1/6/20
