ATLANTA — A 31-year-old Georgia man was charged Friday after he allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in downtown Atlanta.
Inique Hinton, of Douglasville, Georgia, was charged with attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property, according to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
Security cameras allegedly caught Hinton igniting an item and then throwing it toward the multistory brick building Tuesday night, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. It hit the fence and caused flames to spread, the statement said.
Investigators later found burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle and a lighter at the scene, the office said.
Court records don’t list an attorney for Hinton. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and a public defender’s office did not immediately respond to emails asking if he had an attorney.
Hertzberg described law enforcement’s quick work to find the suspect as “exemplary.”
“We are going to respond with extreme severity when it comes to prosecuting this conduct because we need to send a message that this is not OK," he said during a news conference.
Hinton was arrested at a home in a suburb of Atlanta and was taken into custody peacefully, according to officials.
Hertzberg said he was not aware of Hinton having a history of criminal convictions.
If convicted, Hinton faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the arson charge and up to 10 years for the depredation charge, according to Hertzberg.
The building is surrounded by a metal fence and contains offices for ICE as well as an immigration court.
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