Wash. man connected to plot to attack White House UFC event, feds say

Peter Talbot, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) on Jun 22, 2026

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A Western Washington man accused of conspiring to attack President Donald Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House was arrested Friday and made a first appearance Monday at the federal courthouse in Tacoma.

William Lee Spartacus Falkner, 21, of Belfair, is accused of conspiracy to commit murder. Court documents allege he communicated with co-conspirators about procuring drones and the use of explosives, according to a copy of a federal criminal complaint.

The June 14 event on the South Lawn of the White House was attended by Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio along with other administration officials, Republican leaders, business executives and mixed martial arts fans.

It coincided with Trump’s 80th birthday and Flag Day, about two weeks before the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At the center of the event in a caged octagon, fighters punched and pummeled each other into submission under a soaring structure called the “claw.”

Two days after the fights, the Department of Justice announced that the FBI had disrupted a planned attack to kill government officials attending the event. The DOJ said it had arrested five men who allegedly plotted to deploy drones armed with explosives to force an evacuation so snipers could fire upon “high value targets” in the fleeing crowd. Those arrests were made in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California.

Falkner appeared at U.S. District Court in Tacoma wearing a tan uniform. He appeared to be a young man with long brown hair that went past his shoulders. Sitting with a public defense attorney, he responded to questions from Judge Grady J. Leupold about his understanding of his rights and potential penalties with “Yes, your honor.”

At the end of the hearing, Leupold ordered that Falkner be taken into custody rather than be released with conditions pretrial.

Falkner allegedly posted in a group chat about the price of drones, the type of explosives they could carry and the range at which they would be fatal. According to the complaint, he said he was “in the PNW.”

“Weird but it’s how I have my network set up,” Falkner allegedly wrote, according to the complaint. “I got people in low places making them for me. The more drones the better.”

“I refuse to take chances,” Falkner also allegedly posted. “Anything we can make at home isn’t gonna be enough. I mean there will be piles of meat, directional frag charges where the frag goes 350 m/s only really has the ballistic capability to MAYBE go through an arm or two, MAYBE through some soft armor. If you want them gone, you need something bigger than a little Ukrainian present from the sky.”

The FBI identified a 31-year-old man from Omaha, Nebraska, Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, as the person responsible for organizing and directing the planned attack. He allegedly gave locations for drone launches and sniper positions to other participants in an encrypted chat app, Telegram.

Others arrested and charged were Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, California; Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, California; and Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri.

Search warrants executed at some of the alleged conspirators’ homes and on their vehicles turned up rifles, tactical gear, ammunition and other firearms, according to the DOJ.

Investigators identified Falkner as an alleged co-conspirator while reviewing Alvarez’s Telegram account on June 16, according to the complaint. They also connected him to an Instagram account that he allegedly used to communicate about acquiring drones.

“Wanna make some money,” Falkner allegedly messaged another account on June 7.

Falkner told the other user to set up a 3D printer, according to the criminal complaint, and he said he needed five drone frames ASAP.

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