A man who allegedly threw a molotov cocktail at a community police station in Canoga Park over the weekend has been arrested, officials announced Monday.
The incident occurred about 12:55 a.m. Sunday, when a man identified as Jonathon Rosin walked up to the front doors of the Topanga Community Police Station at 21500 block of Schoenborn Street.
Rosin allegedly lit a glass bottle that contained a flammable liquid and threw it at the front window of the station, Los Angeles Police Department officials said in a news release.
“Upon contact with the window the bottle shattered and ignited the flammable liquid,” according to the news release. The flames were put out by a supervisor.
Multiple LAPD personnel witnessed the incident on the station’s surveillance system, police said. Surveillance footage obtained by KTLA shows the hooded man walk up to the station and throw the molotov cocktail at the door, and flames can then be seen breaking out.
Officers then chased Rosin east on Schoenborn Street and he was eventually taken into custody at Canoga Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard.
The officers said the suspect smelled like gasoline.
Rosin, 24, of Los Angeles, was booked on suspicion of igniting an explosive and a misdemeanor warrant. He is being held on $501,000 bail, police said.
A motive behind the incident has not been released.
The LAPD’s major crimes division is investigating the incident with support from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s arson counterterrorism section.
“Jonathan Rosin, the cowardly individual who firebombed the occupied Topanga police station, must be held accountable for putting lives at risk. However, we are not hopeful he will be,” reads a statement from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers.
“Unfortunately, with a district attorney like George Gascon, there’s a good chance the firebomber’s crime will be pled down to starting an illegal campfire with a sentence recommendation of no s’mores at bedtime and a group therapy session to determine how society contributed to this crime,” union officials wrote.
L.A. County DA Gascon’s office did not respond to a request for comment regarding the organization’s statement Monday evening.