Democratic Party headquarters in Texas county attacked by man with Molotov cocktail

A man tried to use a Molotov cocktail to damage the Travis County Democratic Party headquarters in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday morning, officials said.

Katie Naranjo, chair of the county’s Democratic Party, told reporters during a news conference on Wednesday that the man, who was wearing a bandana with the American flag on it, had attempted to attack the building at 2 a.m.

Brandon Jennings, the captain of the Austin Fire Department’s arson section, said the man placed an “incendiary device” inside the building. He said a stack of papers appeared to have been lit on fire, but the actual device did not ignite.

Jennings said workers from a nearby business had extinguished the fire by the time authorities arrived. 

No staff had been inside the building and there was minimal damage, he said.

The suspect has not been identified.

Naranjo mentioned that the suspect had left a threatening note that was “political in nature,” but declined to provide further details of what the note had said.

“Anyone who wears an American flag as a bandana, and then throws a Molotov cocktail with fireworks into a building and leaves a note – a threatening note – is a coward, and we will not… tolerate that type of behavior,” Naranjo said on Wednesday.

When asked how confident authorities were that they would be able to find the person who initiated the attack, Jennings said it appeared from security footage that the same person may have vandalized another building a few hours earlier.