Photo: Rep. JT Wilcox
Authorities in Washington state are searching for two suspects who tossed a lit road flare into the office of a Republican congressman. Rep. JT Wilcox shared a video from a Ring security camera showing two men walking up to the office of Rep. Andrew Barkis and smashing a glass window.
One of the men then ignites the road flare and tosses it into the building. Luckily, the flare landed on a masonry floor and caused no damage to the building.
"Last night 2 individuals broke a window and threw a lit flare into the office of my seatmate, Rep. Andrew Barkis. We have no information about perps or motivation, but I'm very concerned. Thank goodness the flare landed on a masonry floor," Wilcox tweeted.
Investigators have not determined a motive for the vandalism but suggested it may have been done as a diversion while they committed another crime. Officials said that the two men seen in the video are wanted in connection with a robbery at an antique store about a mile away that occurred 20 minutes later.
The two suspects stole around $5,000 worth of merchandise from the store and caused about $2,000 in damage. Authorities said that one of the men cut themselves while smashing a glass jewelry case, and they sent the blood sample for DNA analysis.
Barkis pushed back against the idea that the suspects vandalized his office as a diversion for another crime.
"I'm not quite of the same feeling that somebody would do an arson and burn a building down to just try to rob an antique store," Barkis told Fox News. "It's a highly charged environment that we live in right now.
"My fear is when you look at what's happened in Olympia, Seattle, and Portland, what's been their M.O.?" Barkis added. "The federal building, they've thrown incendiary devices, they've burned buildings. This is what has been done over the last couple of years, so it's not out of the ordinary."