ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A fire that damaged the entryway to the New Mexico Republican Party headquarters in Albuquerque is being investigated as arson, a fire official said Monday.
No suspect has been named in the Sunday morning blaze that’s under investigation by local authorities, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Incendiary materials were found on the scene, according to an ATF spokesperson. Spray paint on the side of the building read “ICE=KKK,” said Lt. Jason Fejer with Albuquerque Fire Rescue. Fejer said federal officials were taking over the arson investigation.
Republican leaders described the fire as a deliberate attack. The building had extensive smoke damage, which Republican party spokesperson Ash Soular said left the offices uninhabitable.
Surveillance video from the inside the building captured images of the fire, Soular said. She declined Monday morning to give further details and said law enforcement asked the party not to release the video or discuss its contents in detail.
State Republican leaders planned a news conference Monday afternoon to address the fire and other damage.
The weekend fire followed vandalism across the U.S. in recent weeks targeting dealerships for Tesla, the electric car company owned by Elon Musk, who is leading Republican President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the federal workforce. Trump has also sought to ramp up deportation efforts against people living in the country illegally, led by agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Democrats including New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller denounced the fire and said politically motivated crimes are unacceptable.
“There is no excuse for political violence or vandalism of any kind, and I strongly condemn Sunday’s attack on the New Mexico Republican Party headquarters,” Lujan Grisham said in a Monday social media post.
