Seattle realtor, stepson of ex-Dem lawmaker became ‘protest buddies,’ charged with arson attack on precinct

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Self-described protest buddies in Seattle - the stepson to a former Democratic lawmaker and a since-fired real estate broker - are facing felony charges stemming from September riots following a decision in the Breonna Taylor case.

Last week, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed charges against Jacob Bennett Greenburg and Danielle Elizabeth McMillan. Both were arrested Friday.

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They are accused of tossing Molotov cocktails at a police precinct while staff remained inside. One is accused of using a metal baseball bat to hit a Seattle police officer over the head, breaking his helmet and sending him to the hospital. The incident was captured on video that circulated online.

Greenburg, 19, was charged with felony first-degree attempted arson, felony first-degree assault and felony first-degree reckless burning. He is the stepson of former state Rep. Laura Ruderman, a Democrat who represented the 45th legislative district from 1999 to 2005, KIRO reported.

Prosecutors accused him of being the masked assailant captured on video attacking Seattle bike officer Jose Jimenez from behind with a bat. The officer’s helmet was cracked through the foam lining.

The attack happened after police declared a riot near Cal Anderson Park, space previously declared an autonomous zone and occupied by demonstrators this summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death while in police custody in Minneapolis.

In electronic messages obtained by prosecutors, McMillan told Greenburg, “Very proud of you.” To that, he responded: “Appreciate it. I’m proud too, hehe. Wish he didn’t have a helmet on, lol.”

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Livestream footage shows Greenburg with a bat running toward Officer Jimenez as he wrestles another suspect for his bike. (King County Prosecutor's Office). 

“Communications between the two co-defendants showed a high degree of sophistication and planning for their attacks, from identifying targets (Seattle Police Office’s Guild, East Precinct), itemizing the needs for set numbers of Molotov Cocktails, calculating expected loss for failed bombs, and where to obtain supplies,” prosecutors said in court documents obtained by Fox News. 

The documents illustrated several other exchanges between the two in late September. McMillan told Greenburg, “Thanks for being a good and loyal protest buddy," in one message, and, in another, Greenburg wrote: “And can we like pls [sic] slit every spd [Seattle Police Department] throat.”

McMillan, 29, was charged with felony first-degree attempted arson. She had worked as a broker at Windemere Real Estate in Woodinville, Wash., since July 2019, but the company said she was fired Saturday due to “the alarming nature” of the charge, according to a statement obtained by KING-TV.

Greenburg’s bail was set at $750,000 while McMillan’s was $100,000.

Security camera footage captured someone lighting the wick of a Molotov cocktail and throwing it at the East Precinct, but the projectile fails to clear the chain-link face. Another Molotov cocktail is then thrown over the fence, striking the northeast corner of the building and igniting while officers were inside. 

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The East Precinct, which previously fell within the occupied protest zone dubbed CHAZ or CHOP, was the site of controversy over the summer after officers pulled back from the building. Demonstrators seized it, using it as their most powerful bargaining chip for weeks before the city reclaimed the blocks in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Fox News’ Paul Best contributed to this report.