Firebomb Attack at Law Office of County Commissioner

Atlanta authorities are probing a firebombing incident after a device was thrown into a law office on Sunday evening.

Local fire crews responded to reports of a fire in southwest Atlanta, at a building at the 2000 block of Fairburn Road SW.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, and no injuries were reported, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. Investigators told the news outlet that the backside of the building was damaged in the attack.

A firebomb is a bomb that causes a fire instead of exploding.

A motive behind the attack isn’t yet clear. Newsweek has contacted Marvin S. Arrington Jr, a Fulton county commissioner who is also a partner at the law office that was hit—Arrington & Phillips, LLP.

Commissioner Arrington told WSB-TV 2 on Sunday night that a hired contractor was inside his office building at the time of the incident.

“Apparently they walked up, they were behind the office, so apparently they left a gasoline can and they left a roll of toilet tissue and I assume they had left two or three, or some amount that started the fire,” Arrington said. “So hopefully they will be able to find who did this.”

He added that his office has never been targeted before.

The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department has launched an investigation into the incident, 11Alive reported.

Arrington, a father of four and Atlanta native, serves Fulton County’s District 5, which includes East Atlanta, East Point, South Fulton, and parts of Union City and College Park.

He has more than two decades of litigation and judicial process, and is a renowned “Super” lawyer, according to his commissioner profile. His term began in January 2019, and expires on December 31, 2022.

He is the son of Marvin Arrington, Sr., retired Fulton County Superior Court justice and former City of Atlanta council president, and Marilyn Arrington, a retired educator.

“Mr. Arrington adheres to a strong creed of community service and empowerment,” Fulton County’s website states.

Arrington’s law firm describes itself as a full service law firm “serving the needs of individuals, families and professionals” in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. The company’s practice areas include personal injury, entertainment law, criminal/DUI law, antitrust law, investment fund litigation, construction litigation, copyright law, real estate litigation, environmental law, and injury and health care.

In a separate incident in May 2021, a local resident firebombed a Los Angeles police station with a Molotov cocktail.

The individual threw the Molotov cocktail against the doors of the police department’s Topanga Division located on the 2150 block of Schoenborn Street, police told Newsweek at the time.