Palm Desert Man Firebombed Republican Women’s Club’s Office: Feds
‘WANNA GO BURN SH*T’
Carlos Espriu of Palm Desert, California, has been charged with attempted arson related to the May 31 firebombing of a Republican Party-affiliated office in neighboring La Quinta, the feds announced Thursday. According to a criminal complaint, a masked Espriu used a metal baseball bat to break windows at the East Valley Republican Women Federated office before lighting three Molotov cocktails on fire. Surveillance video allegedly shows Espriu returning to the office to retrieve the devices after they failed to ignite, and then throwing them again, causing the fire. Law enforcement said that just a few days before the attack, Espriu tweeted, “I wanna go burn shit n get hit with tear gas.” They were also able to get audio recording of Espriu telling a woman in late June how he manufactured the Molotov cocktails and shaved his facial hair after seeing surveillance footage of himself on the news. If convicted, Espriu faces up to 20 years in federal prison, with a mandatory minimum of five.