Sen. Wendy Davis
State Sen. Wendy Davis’ West Seventh Street office in Fort Worth was firebombed Tuesday afternoon, according to reports, but no one was injured in the attack.
According to scanner traffic, Fort Worth patrol officers were searching for an arsonist suspected of tossing as many as two Molotov cocktails into the third-floor office.
Anthony Spangler, Davis’ communications director, said that a staffer heard a large thud at the door and was met at the door by waist-high flames. One staffer ran to escape the fire while the other put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.
Two staffers were in the office at the time, but Davis was not there. Fire officials said the fire was limited to a small area in front of the office, and Spangler said it charred the doorway.
A maintenance man saw a suspect and gave chase but could not apprehend him, authorities said.
Security has been stepped up at the lawmaker’s office, according to reports.
The Fort Worth Fire Department has begun an arson investigation, and DPS troopers and Fort Worth police are assisting, fire officials said.
I’m just glad no one was hurt. But my thinking is in line with that of Nonsequiteuse. I seriously doubt this was random. And I hope the cops catch this asshole before he gets another chance to kill someone.
UPDATE: BOR has more.
UPDATE: The police have arrested a suspect in the attack. Despite my fear that this was politically motivated, the suspect is just some poor homeless person who is apparently mentally ill. I was wrong to make that leap, but it’s not like there hasn’t been plenty of examples of such incidents. I’m just glad they caught the guy, and again that no one was hurt. Sen. Davis’ statement following the arrest is here.
Yep – equally sad that I was so ready to make the leap to assume it was violence motivated by politics, and that we have people with such serious health issues (it would seem from reports at this point) who are nevertheless living on the street because we don’t have a good/adequate way to help them.
I would be thrilled to get to a point in our world/country/state when I did not assume violence like this was linked to politics, and when I knew someone whose mental health might trigger such violence would instead have options for getting help. Sad all around.
Hey just cause he believes in aliens and is homeless, it doesn’t mean he’s not offended by a pro planned parenthood politician. Remember Fox’s am affiliate stations have an alien show late nights called Coast to Coast AM.
I hope someone teaches the arsonist you don’t mess with texas