I"ll be talking about the series of attacks that four car dealerships received on August 23, 2003. San Diego Union-Tribute sees them as domestic terrorism, while the Press-Enterprise sees them as a tragedy.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribute, Vandals acting in the name of a radical environmental group struck four car dealerships and several individual car owners in the San Gabriel Valley. A group called The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility for the attacks along with a recent arson fire that destroyed an apartment construction site in San Diego, CA were damages were estimated to be $50 million. The Clippinger Chevrolet dealership in West Covina, sustained an estimated $1 million in damages after two fires were set in the car lot and one in the warehouse were service parts were kept. The vehicles involved were mainly poor fuel-efficient. Most of the cars were new, mostly H2 Hummers, which is a civilian version the military Humvee. .
A good 20 cars were totally gone and at least another 20 had significant damage. The Rusnak Mercedes Benz dealership of Arcadia was also involved, there another nine SUV's were similar vandalized. The Environment Liberation Front which started in Britain in 1992 belief in taking direct action, criminal if necessary, to protect the environment. The ELF have inflicted more then $100 million in damages in North America over the last six years. They were also involved in the torching of four ski lifts and outbuildings at a resort in Vail, Colorado in 1998. The city's fire chief, Richard Green had this to say " This is the biggest fire we've had in the city in the last 10 years. People walk up and down here at night and they feel safe doing so. The thing I"m really upset about is that this endangers firefighters, reduces the quality of life in our community and interrupted our sales tax revenue.".
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the incident along with the West Covina Police.
