Audio of 911 call released in arson at Madison office of anti-abortion group Wisconsin Family Action
MADISON - A row of books sitting in the director's office of a prominent anti-abortion group's headquarters was set ablaze earlier this month in an attack launched just days after the leak of a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, new emergency dispatch audio suggests.
A man driving by the offices of Wisconsin Family Action in the early morning hours of May 8 called 911 after seeing flames, smoke and a smashed window, according to audio of the emergency call obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel under the state's public records law.
Journal Sentinel · WFA 911call
"I see flames and smoke coming out of there — I walked over there, I could see the window smashed up and it looks like there are books burning in there," said the man, whose name was redacted from the audio by the Dane County Public Safety Communications department, citing a state law that provides anonymity in public records to people who provide information for criminal investigations.
"Whatever it is, it's smoldering in there and kind of flares up a bit and then it goes back down," he said.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told reporters last week his investigators were still searching for video footage of what took place that morning, when two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the group's offices on the north side of Madison. Madison Police have not yet identified a suspect in the arson.
The firebombs did not ignite, Barnes said, but a separate fire was lit in their place. The threat "If abortions aren't safe then you aren't either" was also scrawled in black spray paint on the outside of the building.
Wisconsin Family Action, a Christian-based organization that opposes abortion, same-sex marriage, and vaccine mandates, is an influential lobbying group in Wisconsin that also spends money to elect their preferred candidates.
The group has for years pushed Wisconsin and federal lawmakers to outlaw abortions. The leaked Supreme Court opinion has heightened the emotions of supporters and opponents of abortion access over the already intensely controversial issue that has spurred violence in the past.
If the final Supreme Court ruling matches the language of the leaked draft, an 1849 law banning most abortions would go into effect in Wisconsin.
Julaine Appling, the group's president, said police notified her about 7:45 a.m. while she was at church in Watertown, about 42 miles away. The 911 call to police reporting flames in Appling's office arrived around 6 a.m.
Madison firefighters extinguished the blaze that damaged the row of books that sat in front of the office window that vandals smashed.
Appling told the Journal Sentinel just a few hours after the incident that she believed the books acted as a barrier, preventing the office from becoming engulfed.
Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 911 audio in arson at anti-abortion group Wisconsin Family Action
