An unidentified person stole an ambulance from a hospital in Idaho on Wednesday and then purposely drove the vehicle into a building where the Department of Homeland Security was leasing offices. No people were reportedly injured in the attack in Meridian, Idaho, and the suspect is still at large.
The Meridian Police Department said that the unknown suspect stole the ambulance from St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center on Wednesday at 11:10 p.m. local time. The person then rammed it into an office building where DHS is leasing office space at approximately 12:30 a.m. The suspect then tried to light the vehicle on fire by pouring “gasoline or another accelerant” on it before running away, according to reports.
Local law enforcement officials said that the suspect used gasoline cans that were concealed in bushes near the office.
Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea released a statement after the ambulance was rammed into the office building, describing the events based on the MPD’s preliminary investigation during a brief press conference on Thursday morning.
“Last night at approximately 11:10 p.m., officers from the Meridian Police Department … responded to a 9-1-1 call reporting that a Canyon County paramedic’s ambulance had been stolen from the ambulance bay at St. Luke’s West,” said Basterrechea. “Preliminary investigation indicates the suspect drove the ambulance north through the parking lot and retrieved gas cans that had been staged in nearby vegetation. The suspect then drove the ambulance directly into the North Portico building, which houses Department of Homeland Security offices.”
“Investigators believe the suspect poured an accelerant inside and around the outside of the ambulance,” said Basterrechea. “At this time, it appears the suspect was unable to ignite the accelerant before being scared off by responding agencies.”
“We want to emphasize that this was a serious criminal act,” he added. “The theft and destruction of an emergency vehicle not only created risk to responding personnel, but it also temporarily removed a critical medical resource from the community.”
He then stressed the severity of the attack, rebuking those who made social media comments dismissing the incident, claiming that “property damage isn’t violence” as being “absolutely false.”
“This was absolutely an act of violence,” Basterrechea said. “And if the suspect had not been interrupted, there is no doubt this building would have been burned, putting the lives of first responders and others at risk.”
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The incident marks the latest in a string of attacks on DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers over the last year.
According to DHS, there has been an “8000% increase in death threats against them and more than 1300% increase in assaults against them.” This includes having Molotov cocktails and cinder blocks thrown at them, weaponizing vehicles and purposely driving them at ICE officers seeking to cause them harm, people reportedly trying to purchase firearms to “kill ICE agents,” antifa members ambushing a federal immigration detention center in Texas, and a sniper who tried to kill “immigration officers” at an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas.
