Federal agents arrested a 31-year-old Douglasville man Thursday for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in downtown Atlanta earlier this week. The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia called it an “act of terrorism.”
Inique Hinton has been charged with attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property. The FBI took him into custody Thursday at a residence in Cobb County.
Prosecutors say security cameras caught Hinton walking near the ICE facility at 180 Ted Turner Drive just before 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. Minutes later, he allegedly lit an object and threw it toward the building, hitting the exterior fence and setting off flames. Investigators recovered burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle and a lighter at the scene.
Atlanta police witnessed the attack and chased the suspect but could not catch him that night. The FBI later put out images of an unidentified man and offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“An attack on federal property is an attack against our democracy. It is an act of terrorism. It is an act of political violence, and it cannot stand,” US Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said.
Hertzberg said his office would pursue the case with “extreme severity,” adding: “We need to send the message that this is not OK.”
“We can talk about immigration, we can have civil discourse but we cannot allow criminal acts, terroristic acts, like the one that was committed three days ago in our city,” Hertzberg said.
He noted the same ICE building was targeted roughly six years ago, during the summer of 2020. “I want to make very clear we are not going back to that,” Hertzberg said. “We will not tolerate attacks on government property and attacks against federal law enforcement.”
If convicted of attempted arson, Hinton faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison. The depredation of government property charge carries a maximum of 10 years. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.
