A 31-year-old Douglasville man was arrested Thursday and charged in connection with a Molotov cocktail attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in downtown Atlanta earlier this week, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Inique Hinton faces federal charges of attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property. He was taken into custody by the FBI at a residence in Cobb County.
U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg called the attack an act of terrorism during a news conference announcing the 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,” Hertzberg said.
Prosecutors said security cameras captured Hinton walking near the ICE building at 180 Ted Turner Drive just before 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. Minutes later, he allegedly ignited an object and threw it toward the facility, striking the exterior fence and sparking flames.
Investigators recovered burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle and a lighter from the scene.
Atlanta police officers witnessed the incident and tried to pursue the suspect but could not catch him that night. The FBI later released images of an unidentified man and offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his identification and arrest.
Hertzberg said his office would pursue the case with “extreme severity.”
“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,” he said.
Hertzberg noted that the same Atlanta ICE facility had been targeted before, during the summer of 2020.
“I want to make very clear we are not going back to that,” he said. “We will not tolerate attacks on government property and attacks against federal law enforcement.”
If convicted, Hinton faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison on the attempted arson charge. The depredation of government property charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
