A firebomb was thrown at a family’s house on 11th Street and Pacific Avenue in Manhattan Beach in the early hours of Feb. 4.
Ronald Clinton, who was asleep at home with his daughter and two sons at the time, believes the crime was racially motivated.
“It seems like we’re being specifically targeted,” he said by phone. “We’re the only African-American family in this vicinity of Manhattan Beach. We have no known animosity—any toward us, or us toward them.”
The Manhattan Beach Fire Department has called the fire “suspicious,” but has resisted calling it a hate crime.
“The motive has not been determined and to speculate before the completion of the investigation can be detrimental to the family, the community, and the investigation,” MBFD said in a press release.
“The motivation for this crime has not been determined,” MBPD said in a announcement via its online service, Nixle. “However, all possible motives, including this being a hate crime are being investigated. We have not ruled out any possibility.”
To add to his suspicion, Clinton, who is the owner and pharmacist of Apothecary Pharmacy in West LA, points out that his house doesn’t stand out in any way.
“Our house is mid-block,” he said. “It’s tucked away, quiet. Why was it done specifically to our house?”
Clinton said he and his family, who have lived in Manhattan Beach for 12 years, have never felt discriminated against in the town.
“The community has been nothing but a fabulous place to live,” he said. “We have always felt very comfortable here.”
However, there have been other suspicious incidents in the past. A few months ago, drug paraphernalia was left outside of their house, which they’ve lived in for over a year. He said they filed a police report but never got a follow-up. There’s also been trash and other large objects left at his house.
At a previous house on 18th Street and Pacific Avenue, someone sprayed graffiti around 2005.
Prior to that, the family lived in Ladera Heights.
Clinton believes that officials have been hesitant to label the fire a hate crime because they “don’t want a large public outcry.”
“I understand they have no hard evidence,” he said. “I can understand their position. But as a victim and a citizen of the community, I have the right to voice what I think and how I feel.”
The night of the incident, Clinton said he was awakened by a large blast around 2:15 a.m.
“I jumped out of bed, and then I heard a second large blast,” he said. “I thought my son had fallen down the stairs or a pipe had burst in the wall—that’s how loud it was.”
Clinton saw large flames coming through the front door. He woke his children up and called 911. The family and their dog exited through the garage.
Once outside, Clinton, whose wife was out of town, grabbed a hose and started to put out the fire. The police and fire department arrived and took over.
They have not determined what exactly was thrown at the house, but Clinton said it was a rubber material, possibly a tire, and a propellant, which he thought smelled like gasoline.
The house will be uninhabitable for months and they estimate the damage will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the meantime, the family is staying in a hotel. A webpage to raise funds for a private investigation and reward was started at fundly.com/fire-bombed-neighbor. As of 11:55 a.m. on Friday, $9,151 had been raised.
When asked if they planned to move, Clinton said they haven’t had time to talk about it.
“We’re just trying to get things back to normal as much as possible,” he said.
On Friday, a bouquet of flowers lay on the family’s porch, which was covered with burned rubble. Flowers in two big terracotta pots were scorched and the ceiling above the porch was covered in black soot. The entrance was boarded up and two TV news vans sat outside.
A neighbor walking by said that as a biracial man, he believed it was a hate crime and that he sympathized with the family.
“If something like this happened to them, who’s to say it can’t happen to us?” said Michael Hamilton, 27, who has lived in the town almost all his life.
A vigil was planned for the family Friday at the Metlox Plaza at 6 p.m. Clinton said that the family had been “overwhelmed” by the “great outpour of support.”
“We still love this community,” he said. “We know it’s not the community as a whole—just some bad apples. The community is part of our family.” ER
