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WA man charged in alleged White House UFC attack plot

By
FOX 13 Seattle
Crime and Public Safety
Published June 22, 2026 2:16 PM PDT
Published June 22, 2026 2:16 PM PDT

The Brief

    • The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI announced the arrests of multiple individuals, including a Washington man, following an investigation into a plot to launch a mass-casualty attack during a UFC event at the White House this month.
    • According to federal charges, the co-conspirators—who hail from Ohio, California, Missouri, and Nebraska—intended to drop explosives from drones to force an evacuation before using snipers to shoot fleeing U.S. officials. Law enforcement first became aware of the potential threat on June 10, and the investigation into the plot remains ongoing.
    • On Monday, the Department of Justice announced a man from Washington was also arrested.

TACOMA, Wash. - A Washington man was among multiple people arrested in connection with an alleged plot to carry out a mass-casualty attack during an Ultimate Fighting Championship event held at the White House this month.

The backstory:

On June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza on the White House’s South Lawn, the FBI and local law enforcement learned about a potential threat to the UFC Freedom 250 event in Washington, D.C., involving individuals outside the National Capital Region.

The FBI launched an investigation into the plot and identified a group of conspirators who procured weapons and made plans to carry out the attack, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

What we know:

On Monday, the department announced that William Lee Spartacus Falkner of Washington was arrested on Friday, June 19. He is charged by criminal complaint in the Western District of Washington with conspiracy to commit murder. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Monday afternoon. 

The Department of Justice also reported on Monday another man from Missouri was arrested over the weekend. Jordan W. Rincker, 28, was charged by criminal complaint in the Western District of Missouri with conspiracy to commit murder.

UFC Freedom 250 fight from the Washington Monument, on Sunday, June 14, 2026, on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Patrick B. Ruddy).

There were five other men arrested in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California, and the department also announced charges against them. According to the charges, Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, California; Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, California; Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri; and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha, Nebraska, conspired to plan and execute a mass-casualty event targeting U.S. officials in attendance.

The conspirators allegedly planned to deploy drones armed with explosives in and around the event to force an evacuation. They then planned to deploy snipers to fire upon "high-value targets" within the fleeing crowd, according to the Department of Justice. 

The investigation remains ongoing.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Associated Press. 


 

Crime and Public SafetyNewsWashington, D.C.