During an arrest for a suspected DUI in Mississippi, Randy Maske confessed to police that he had firebombed an abortion clinic in Peoria, Illinois in 1993. Arresting officer Tim Bell made a sarcastic remark to Maske while taking him into custody, saying “Come on inside hero.” Maske responded, “I am a hero. I bombed an abortion clinic.” Maske then went on to tell Bell details of the 1993 bombing, which were later confirmed by the Peoria police. Maske is being held in Tupelo, Mississippi. He will be transported to Peoria where he will face an arson charge.
On September 26, 1993, a “Molotov Cocktail” was thrown at the doors of a clinic in Peoria. The bomb burned the doors and sidewalks, causing an estimated $10,000 worth of damage. “The only reason the bomb didn’t do a whole lot of damage inside the clinic was because of the security measures we had done,” said Margaret Van Duyn, Executive Director of the clinic. No one was injured in the firebombing.
Since the 1990s, incidents of severe violence directed at abortion providers and women’s reproductive health clinics have declined, however, one in five clinics still experiences one of more forms of severe violence. To learn more about anti-abortion violence, read the Feminist Majority Foundation’s 2000 Clinic Violence Survey.
