Marine recruiting station hit with incendiary device: ‘Detectives are trying to find a motive’

A Marine recruiting station in Arizona was one of multiple targets recently hit with an incendiary device.

Police in Tucson say they are investigating a series of attacks on Starbucks, Chase Bank, Wells Fargo and now Marine recruiting station Monday night.

“There was minimal damage to the station and operations have not been interrupted,” 1st Lt. Andrew Wood, a Marine spokesman, told Marine Corps Times in a statement released Thursday. “The safety of our recruiters, civilian employees and prospective applicants is a top priority so we will continue to cooperate with local authorities as they lead the ongoing investigation.”

Police told the Arizona Daily Star that some of the Molotov cocktail-type incendiary devices did ignite.

“Detectives are trying to find a motive and why the person or persons chose these specific businesses. The scariest part is, not only was the person trying to catch a building on fire which could cause millions of dollars in damages, but the suspect also didn’t know that there was nobody inside any of the businesses,” Tucson Police Department’s Sgt. Pete Dugan told the newspaper on Tuesday.

The Arizona chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

Anyone with information about the fires or individuals involved is asked to call 1-800-35-ARSON, the Daily Star reported.