Arson investigators are searching for a male suspect who burglarized the Temple Israel in Hollywood on April 14 and started a small fire in one of the synagogue’s classrooms.
Officers were summoned to the temple around 8:45 a.m., and employees had already extinguished the fire when they arrived. There were no injuries, and the damage was described as minimal.
The incident is under investigation by the multi-agency House of Worship Task Force, which includes the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Arson Unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No motive has been established, and officials have not called the incident a hate crime. An investigation is ongoing and may take several days, according to LAFD spokesperson Erik Scott.
The suspect is described as Caucasian man between 27 and 30 years old, approximately five-feet-eleven-inches tall and 180 pounds with a closely-cropped beard. He was wearing a beanie, a gray long-sleeved shirt, dark jeans and was carrying a green duffel bag.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the LAFD Arson Unit at (213)485-6095.
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