Travis County, Texas arson: Man arrested for setting fire inside a Democratic county building, authorities say

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Ryan Faircloth, 30, is accused of causing a fire at the Democratic Travis County Party headquarters in Austin, Texas on Wednesday by throwing a Molotov cocktail device into the building, according to Captain Jeffrey Deane of the Austin Fire Arson Investigations Division.

Authorities responded to the scene and found the fire was apparently being put out by some employees at a neighboring company, Austin Fire Chief Brandon Jennings said.

There were no employees in the building and the damage was minimal, officials said.

Austin-based Faircloth was arrested and held in the Travis County Jail for second degree arson and third degree illegal weapons, Deane said. According to the warrant, he is on bail of $ 40,000 for both charges.

CNN is working to determine if Faircloth currently has legal counsel.

Authorities believe that Faircloth deliberately targeted the Democratic Party building for political reasons.

“I think it was one of those things that you know that this person was not happy with the current political climate, blaming that office and its representation for many of the problems that he saw as problems with the country, and because of this, this was a deliberate act, “said Deane.

Deane noted that Faircloth “came out” and confessed that for these reasons he had targeted the building.

Authorities say they left threatening letters in the building

Authorities said Faircloth was the person caught on surveillance tape in the Travis County’s Democratic Party office building in the early hours of September 29th. The person appeared to be picking up a stone and throwing it against the door of the building, breaking a small part of it, Jennings said.

The person then placed an incendiary device in the building, Jennings said.

“It appears that there was also paper or something piled up that was also set alight, but the actual device that was thrown or placed did not ignite,” Jennings added.

Jennings noted that an incendiary device like the one used in the video would typically be thrown as soon as “you light it” and then some liquid would help light the fire.

“Perhaps there is a lack of experience with what they were trying to do,” Jennings said.

Faircloth reportedly left a threatening letter inside the building, although authorities didn’t specify exactly what was written inside.

“He… didn’t want the Democratic Party’s influence to affect his city, state, things like that. That was the gist of the letter. He also hinted that this might just be a warning and there could be future incidents, “Deane said.

Travis County’s Democratic Party leader Katie Naranjo said Wednesday the building had been used for various government purposes.

The FBI assisted Austin investigators in the arrest because of the nature of the threats, Deane said.

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