© Mario Tama/GettyLAPD officers keep watch by a small fire set during demonstrations following the death of George Floyd on May 30, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at an LAPD station early Sunday morning.
A Los Angeles police station was firebombed early Sunday morning by a local resident. Video shows a suspect throwing a Molotov cocktail against the doors of the police department's Topanga Division.
Police told Newsweek the suspect approached the lobby of the station, located on the 2150 block of Schoenborn Street, just after midnight. The suspect then lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the front window. The improvised bomb consists of a glass bottle filled with flammable liquid and has a wick.
Authorities said that the bottle shattered but the window remained intact. Multiple supervisors witnessed the incident and were able to respond to the incident in the front lobby, which was closed at the time. The flames were quickly extinguished and a foot pursuit of the suspect ensued.
"The suspect was eventually detained at Roscoe [Boulevard] and Canoga [Avenue] without incident," a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said. "The suspect was a local resident. He was very uncooperative."
The suspect is in custody but the motive is unknown at this time, police said.
Earlier that evening, the LAPD had issued a citywide tactical alert to disperse a large crowd that had gathered for a punk rock performance in Cypress Park on Saturday night, with reports of some attendees setting off fireworks.
Police estimated that about 100 to 200 people had gathered, although video posted to social media showed a crowd closer to 1,000 people or more.
Law enforcement officials across the country have increasingly been targeted by suspects using Molotov cocktails. Las month, a motorist hurled one of the bottle-based bombs at New York City police officers, authorities said.
The New York Police Department said the vehicle was stopped for running a red light. "When approached, the driver doused a cop with a chemical before fleeing, tossing a Molotov cocktail and finally being arrested. Fortunately, our officers weren't injured," the NYPD said.
An officer in the St. Louis area also had a Molotov cocktail thrown at him last month. Ste. Genevieve officer Pete Unverferth suffered serious burns after a man, identified by police as Tyson Paul Heise, threw a bottle filled with flammable liquid at him and his uniform caught on fire, the town's police chief said.
"It burned his arms pretty badly and his legs and torso," Ste. Genevieve Police Chief Eric Bennett said. "He had substantial burns."
Unverferth had arrived at the home of Heise's mother to investigate a report that Heise had made threats, according to a probable cause statement.
Heise was charged with first-degree assault on a special victim and armed criminal action.
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