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Authorities in Meridian, Idaho, were searching Thursday for a suspect they said stole an ambulance outside St. Luke’s hospital, poured an accelerant over it, and drove it into a nearby office building that houses U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices, according to Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea.
Basterrechea said the police department did not identify the substance poured on the inside and outside of the ambulance. He said in a statement that “It appears the suspect was unable to ignite the accelerant before being scared off by responding agencies.”
Police said the incident occurred at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday in Meridian, a Boise suburb. Basterrechea said the suspect took the ambulance from St. Luke’s hospital and drove it north through a parking lot, then retrieved gas cans from nearby vegetation before fleeing.
Images broadcast on television showed shattered glass doors at the entrance to an office building in the area. Basterrechea said the building is owned by St. Luke’s Health System and is one of several in a business complex known as The Portico, next door to the hospital.
Investigators said other tenants at Portico North include SelectHealth Inc., St. Luke’s Home Health and Hospice, and Quest Diagnostics. The hospital has faced criticism for leasing space to DHS while the Trump administration carries out what police and others have described as an immigration enforcement crackdown.
Basterrechea said there has been “a lot of rhetoric” on the lease issue and added that “comments on social media such as ‘property damage isn’t violence’ is absolutely false.” He called the incident “a serious criminal act,” saying, “This was absolutely an act of violence, and if the suspect had not been interrupted, there is no doubt this building would have been burned, putting the lives of first responders and others at risk.”
He said his department was leading the investigation and was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DHS and other agencies as authorities tried to locate the suspect.