Officials: Fire at California Planned Parenthood was arson
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) – A small fire that damaged a Planned Parenthood facility in Southern California was apparently ignited when someone tossed a container with a flammable liquid through a window, authorities said.
Crews reported the smell of gasoline at the scene of the arson late Wednesday in Thousand Oaks, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Mike Lindbery. Nobody was inside the building when the fire was started.
A suspect wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a face mask was recorded by surveillance cameras, said Sheriff’s Capt. John Reilly.
“The footage is really poor. It’s very dark, but the cameras did capture someone,” he said.
Arson investigators were examining the footage and will test the liquid accelerant.
Crews alerted by a fire alarm at around 11:30 p.m. arrived to find the building’s sprinklers had extinguished most of the flames. A rock was apparently used to shatter the window before the container was tossed inside, Lindbery said.
There was more damage from the sprinklers than from the fire itself, officials said.
The office was vandalized within the last 30 days, when another window was broken, but it wasn’t immediately known if the two incidents were connected, said Reilly.
He didn’t know if the facility would open Thursday. The sheriff’s office will increase patrol in that area after the incident.
Planned Parenthood didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
The group has faced criticism and congressional backlash for its practice of supplying tissue from aborted fetuses for scientific research.