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Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
ATF deployed to Los Angeles to investigate car fires related to ICE protests
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has deployed its National Response Team to Los Angeles to help investigate high-profile arson cases related to ongoing protests of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations in the city. The National Response Team typically investigates large scale disasters, explosions and bombings, according to the ATF website. ATF agents wills be working with local and state agencies, including the Los Angeles police and fire departments, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the California Highway Patrol, to investigate the circumstances that led to multiple Waymo self-driving taxis to be set on fire during the first days of the now-weeklong protest. In addition to the Waymo vehicles, officials said several law enforcement vehicles were torched, and the LAPD headquarters in downtown was damaged by fire. 'The cause of these fires is quite obvious,' said Kenneth Cooper, ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Division. 'The task at hand now is to determine who is responsible.' The sight of large plumes of black smoke billowing from engulfed vehicles has been one of the lasting images of June's protests, which began after federal agents began clandestine operations in the city, targeting suspected undocumented immigrants at their places of work, on the roadway, at their homes or even at churches. While the arsons, vandalism and looting of some businesses has been disavowed by local leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the protests have garnered widespread support across the city and parts of the nation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused President Donald Trump of intentionally escalating tensions by mobilizing military troops and additional federal agents to the city and turning mostly peaceful protests into a flashbulb moment for his political agenda. As Newsom and Trump duke it out in court, and as the nation prepares for what is widely expected to be one of the largest single days of protests in recent American history, the ATF says its sole focus will be on apprehending those responsible for causing destruction during the protests. The federal law enforcement agency is urging anyone with information about those responsible for setting the vehicles on fire to submit a tip via email or by calling 1-888-ATF-TIPS. 'We're grateful to community members willing to step forward,' Cooper said. 'The people of Los Angeles don't deserve the destruction of their communities, and we're here to help hold people accountable.' A curfew in the one-square-mile of downtown L.A. at the epicenter of these anti-ICE protests will remain in place through the weekend, city officials said. Waymo has since suspended service in downtown L.A. as protests continue for the foreseeable future. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
22-03-2025
- CBS News
Homes near Pacoima explosion covered with thermal gel to protect neighborhood
After exhausting all other options on Friday, bomb disposal teams have opted to slowly burn the house at the center of the Pacoima explosion site as well as the remaining volatile materials inside. "This house is essentially a bomb," ATF Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Cooper said during the press conference. "We are basically notifying the public to render this explosive device safe; we are going to use fire in a slow, methodic burn to alleviate that threat." To protect the residents and surrounding neighborhood, the Los Angeles Police Department evacuated 60 homes while firefighters covered nearby buildings with thermal gel and erected a metal mesh fence to prevent projectiles from flying out. The city has also asked the Environmental Protection Agency to measure the air quality as the operation continues. The Los Angeles Fire Department has also placed control lines around the leveled home and surrounded the area with sand to prevent containments from spreading with the water runoff. "We have taken the precautionary measures to protect the neighboring residences and confine the fire to the location where this incident occurred," LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva said. "Our primary concern is life, property and the environment." Since Thursday, police, firefighters and their federal partners have been crafting ways to safely dispose of the remaining explosives but determined that the volatile materials left behind were too unstable for transport. Instead, firefighters have begun the delicate process of a slow, controlled burn with diesel fuel to safely destroy the property. "Unfortunately, some of these chemicals are reactive to water and can't be transported safely," Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. "As a result, a controlled burn is the only viable method to safely mitigate the threat posed on this site. I want to stress that this is a dangerous situation, and all members of the public should really avoid coming in or around this area until this situation is resolved." McDonnell said the leftover firework-making materials created a dangerous environment equivalent to a drug lab. "It's the equivalent of having a meth lab," McDonnell said. "They put themselves at risk, and they put everybody in the environment at risk, extremely volatile." Following the botched fireworks disposal operation in 2021 , Villanueva stressed that the bomb squad teams have the necessary resources. "We have more resources that are out there," he said. "We're going to have more resources that will be out there in that same area. So, we're looking pretty good." In 2021, the LAPD Bomb Squad detonated fireworks in the middle of a South LA neighborhood without weighing any of the explosives. "It was clear that the practice of visually estimating the weight of the disposal product was the only method used by the LAPD Bomb Squad during TCV detonations, both prior to and including this one," the Office of the Inspector General wrote in a 2022 report. The catastrophic detonation injured 17 people and damaged dozens of surrounding buildings. The "Total Containment Vessel," a 525-pound device the bomb squad placed the explosives in, flew 1300 feet away. "We find that changes have to occur at all levels of operation of this bomb that we now look at in hindsight and cannot justify," then-Police Chief Michel Moore said. After three years, the city agreed to pay $21 million to settle the claims from the residents affected by the botched explosion.
