A Douglasville man has been charged with attempted arson of a federal building after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Downtown Atlanta.
According to the Associated Press, Inique Hinton, 31, was charged on Oct. 23 with attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, security cameras allegedly captured Hinton igniting an object and throwing it toward the multi-story building on the night of Oct. 20. The device struck a fence, causing flames to spread, the statement said.
Investigators later recovered burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle and a lighter at the scene, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hinton was arrested at his home in Douglasville and taken into custody without incident, officials said. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said he was not aware of Hinton having any prior criminal convictions.
“The law enforcement work to quickly identify this individual was exemplary,” Hertzberg said at a news conference. He added that prosecutors would respond with “extreme severity” to such conduct, saying it was necessary to send a message that the alleged actions were unacceptable.
If convicted, Hinton faces up to 20 years in federal prison on the attempted arson charge and up to 10 years on the charge of depredation of government property, according to Hertzberg.
