Home » Santa Clarita News » Man, 26, Suspected Of Fire-Bombing Parents’ Castaic Home; FBI Involved

Man, 26, Suspected Of Fire-Bombing Parents’ Castaic Home; FBI Involved

From SCVNews.com — UPDATED Dec. 14 12:43 p.m.

A Sun Valley man has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to fire-bomb his parents’ home in Castaic Thursday morning.

Officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department identified the suspect as Ahmad Smadi, 26.

Described as 6-foot-3, 150 to 170 pounds and of Middle Eastern descent,  Smadi reportedly lit a Molotov cocktail – typically a glass bottle filled with gasoline, with a rag stuck in the neck for a fuse – and tossed it through the window of his parents’ house in the 30500 block of Corsica Place at 6:20 a.m.

Deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station arrived to find that the device didn’t function as intended. There was no fire and there were no injuries.

Members of the Sheriff’s arson and explosives detail, together with FBI agents, investigated the scene and identified the suspect.

According to California Highway Patrolman Steve Reid, at 5:40 p.m., CHP officers recieved tips of a 1998 Honda Accord traveling northbound on the 101 Freeway through the Moorepark area. The vehicle was using the center divider between north and south bound lanes and traveling at speeds over 100 mph.

CHP officers spotted the vehicle on the 101 Freeway shoulder south of Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard.  CHP  impounded the car after Smadi fled. CHP then initiated a successful search, according to Reid. The CHP found no evidence of weapons or explosives, but did link the car to earlier reports out of Castaic from the LASD.

According to Reid, CHP officers noticed a pedestrian rolling what appeared to be cardboard barrells into uncoming northbound traffic. CHP officers went after on foot, and took Smadi into custody in Oxnard at 7 p.m.

Sheriff officials said Smadi had made threats in the past “against his roommates, friends and family members.”

Although the FBI was called to the scene, Smadi will not face any federal charges, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

The nature of the crimes committed warranted they FBI to be brought in — working alongside the Sheriff’s Department, said Eimiller.

Smadi will likely face local, criminal charges, said Eimiller.

Man, 26, Suspected Of Fire-Bombing Parents’ Castaic Home; FBI Involved

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.