Incident Summary:
1/12/2005: Five incendiary devices were discovered at a commercial building under construction the Parkhill Professional Center in Auburn, California in the United States. The incendiaries, which were made of white and orange plastic five gallon buckets containing a gasoline and diesel mixture, affixed with pieces of wooden framing material, a white plastic manual kitchen timer with green electrical wires leading to a fifteen minute road flare, wooden matches, a 9-volt Duracel battery, and electrical connectors, failed to ignite and were rendered inoperable by police at the scene. As the devices did not function properly, there were no casualties, nor property damage in the incident. A few days later, a letter signed by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) was sent to various media outlets, claiming responsibility for this attempted arson as well as the one on two homes under construction in the Twelve Bridges community in December 2004 (122704). Ryan Daniel Lewis was convicted of attempted arson and sentenced in this incident. Eva Rose Holland was also charged in this incident.
Overview
GTD ID:
200501120006
When:
2005-01-12
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
California
City:
Auburn
Location Details:
in a commercial building under construction at 440 Auburn Folsom Road, part of the Parkhill Professional Center in Auburn, CA
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Facility/Infrastructure Attack |
Successful Attack? () |
No |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Business |
Name of Entity |
commercial building under construction at the Parkhill Professional Center |
Specific Description |
commercial building under construction at the Parkhill Professional Center in Auburn, CA |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Incendiary |
Gasoline or Alcohol |
Weapon Details |
white and orange plastic five gallon buckets containing a gasoline and diesel mixture, affixed with pieces of wooden framing material, a white plastic manual kitchen timer with green electrical wires leading to a fifteen minute road flare, wooden matches, a 9-volt Duracel battery, and electrical connectors |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
The perpetrators were also responsible for an attempted arson in 2004 and several later arsons in 2005, and were sentenced to federal prison time for their crimes. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
2 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
2 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
FBI, "Terrorism 2002-2005,"FBI, DOJ, 2005. |
Federal Complaint, "Three more arrests in Northern California ecoterrorism firebombing cases bring four federal grand jury indictments," FBI, Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, March 2005. |
"Pipe Bomb Found, Dismantled At California DMV Office," Dow Jones International News, February 15, 2005. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties