Rioters in Atlanta vandalized the Georgia State Patrol (GSB) headquarters early on Sunday morning, the agency said.
About 100 people outside of the Georgia State Patrol headquarters at 1 a.m., most of whom were wearing all black clothes and masks, graffitied the building with spray paint and used fireworks to spark a fire inside the building, the GSP said in an email to Fox News.
“They were armed with bricks, landscaping bricks, Molotov cocktails, fireworks. Their one mission was to destruct property and that is exactly what they did,” said Stephanie L. Stallings, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Public Safety, according to WSB-TV Atlanta.
A woman who said she lives near the GSP headquarters, said the commotion woke her up.
“[T]his just happened at GSP HQ…The drumming woke me up, but an otherwise peaceful protest was interrupted when 3, maybe 4, bad actors fire bombed one of the offices. I called 9-1-1, but the line was jammed,” Kimberly Krautter, who captured the rioting on video, wrote on Twitter.
“I heard the glass shatter, plate glass shatter, one of the offices. I saw one that seemed to be glowing from the inside, then I saw somebody carrying a flaming object and then threw it into a newly broken window and explode,” Krautter told WSB-TV Atlanta.
According to footage of the incident, some people were beating drums outside headquarters, while others set off fireworks. A loud bang is heard, which is followed by smoke. Flashes of bright red light are also seen multiple times inside the building.
Several people were seen walking up to the window and throwing what look to be fireworks inside, causing a small fire in the building, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
The Department of Public Safety later put out the fire and no one was seriously injured from the incident, aside from two workers who had to be treated for smoke inhalation, according to Fox News.
The rioters caused “extensive damage” to the building and a Department of Public Safety vehicle parked outside, the agency said to the station. No arrests have been made.
