Messages left at site of car fire
A fire that destroyed a $55,000 sport utility vehicle at a Liberty Lake car dealership early Tuesday morning may be the work of domestic terrorists, authorities say.
“We recovered some messages at the scene that were anti-Bush, anti-war,” said Norm Brown, a supervisor with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Investigators were called to a fire at George Gee Pontiac GMC, 21502 E. Mission, about 3 a.m., after fire destroyed one Hummer and damaged two others, Brown said.
The large military-type vehicles are viewed by some environmentalist groups as “gas guzzlers, not friendly to the environment,” and have been targets of eco-terrorism in the past, Brown said.
The fire in Liberty Lake is now being investigated by the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force, made up of investigators from several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and state and local police.
Brown said investigators are considering the possibility that the fire could be the work of the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental movement, or some other activist group, but would not confirm that.
“We want to determine if they are so-called professionals, or just teenagers” vandalizing property, Brown said. “The individuals picked out and targeted the Hummers. We don’t know why.”
He said the messages left at the scene are specific in nature, and investigators are hoping to connect them to the arsonists, but would not elaborate.
The Earth Liberation Front has previously claimed responsibility for dozens of other fires and vandalism to Hummers in California and Western Washington. Similar crimes have also been committed in Oregon and Arkansas.
In 2003, the group set fire to a California warehouse that destroyed dozens of Hummers. Other vehicles were also spray-painted with slogans such as “Fat, Lazy Americans.”
Hummers owned by private citizens have also been targets of vandalism, though there have been no local reports of such incidents. Tuesday’s dealership fire was also the first of its kind in the Inland Northwest, Brown said.
“It’s almost like we were expecting something like this,” Brown said.