Authorities in Idaho were searching Thursday for a suspect who they said stole an ambulance outside a hospital, poured an accelerant over it and drove it into a nearby building that houses U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices.
Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea didn’t identify the substance poured on the inside and outside of the ambulance. “It appears the suspect was unable to ignite the accelerant before being scared off by responding agencies,” he said in a statement.
The incident occurred at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday in the Boise suburb of Meridian, police said.
The suspect took the ambulance from St. Luke’s hospital and drove it north through a parking lot, Basterrechea said. The suspect then retrieved gas cans from nearby vegetation, he said.
Images broadcast on television show shattered glass doors at the entrance to an office building.
The building is owned by St. Luke’s Health System, and is one of several in a large business complex known as The Portico, next door to the hospital. Other tenants at Portico North include health insurance company SelectHealth Inc., St. Luke’s Home Health and Hospice and Quest Diagnostics.
The hospital has faced criticism for leasing space to the Department of Homeland Security while President Donald Trump’s administration carries out his immigration enforcement crackdown.
“There has been a lot of rhetoric” on the issue of the lease, Basterrechea said, adding that “comments on social media such as ‘property damage isn’t violence’ is absolutely false.”
He called the incident “a serious criminal act.”
“This was absolutely an act of violence, and if the suspect had not been interrupted, there is no doubt this building would have been burned, putting the lives of first responders and others at risk,” Basterrechea said.
He said his department was leading the investigation and was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DHS and other agencies.
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McAvoy reported from Honolulu.
