SEATTLE — A 21-year-old man from Edmonds, Kelly Thomas Jackson, was sentenced to more than three years in prison for setting two Seattle police cars on fire by throwing Molotov cocktails at them during a protest on May 30, 2020.
Jackson pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a destructive device on Jan. 6, 2021. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison with three years of supervised release.
According to court records, following the May 30 protest in downtown Seattle, law enforcement had various videos of a white male suspect in distinctive clothing using glass containers with flammable material and a wick to burn or attempt to burn two police cars. Jackson was identified as the person throwing the containers after an anonymous tip to police, according to a release from the Western District of Washington's U.S. Attorney's Office.
One video obtained by police showed Jackson throwing one Molotov cocktail into a police car, then hiding in the crowd. Another video showed the second Molotov cocktail thrown at the windshield of another police car, then bouncing off and exploding in flames on the sidewalk outside the Nordstrom store, according to court records.
Jackson's internet search history also found he had accessed websites with instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), with assistance from the Seattle Police Department, the Edmonds Police Department, and the Mountlake Terrace Police Department.