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Fire probe terrorism task force { August 3 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030803-9999_1m3firefolo.htmlhttp://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030803-9999_1m3firefolo.html
Officers interview nearby residents
By Mark Arner Caitlin Rother and Jennifer Vigil
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
August 3, 2003
FBI agents were part of a terrorism task force probing for clues yesterday near the fire that destroyed a five-story condominium project under construction in University City.
Jan Caldwell, an FBI spokeswoman, said law enforcement officers began interviewing hundreds of people evacuated from their homes.
The FBI suspects a militant environmental group, Earth Liberation Front, set fire to the 206-unit complex. Damage was at least $20 million, although authorities say that figure is likely to increase substantially.
A banner reading "If you build it, we will burn it," with the initials E.L.F., was found, and an e-mail sent to The San Diego Union-Tribune Friday said the banner "is a legitimate claim of responsibility by the Earth Liberation Front."
"I think the American people are tired of being terrorized," Caldwell said. "Someone out there knows some information."
Caldwell said there are 20 agencies involved in the Joint Terrorism Task Force that probes large fires and suspected acts of terrorism. She asked that anyone with information contact the FBI or Crime Stoppers.
Capt. Jeff Carle, a spokesman for the region's Metro Arson Strike Team, said it could be a week before idled construction workers or other personnel will be allowed to return to the 33-acre site.
The La Jolla Crossroads complex was planned for 1,500 housing units, including low-income and market-rate rental apartments, and condominiums for sale.
The housing units were to be built next to a 165,000-square-foot research center, just south of La Jolla Village Drive and west of Interstate 805. Stuart Posnock, of the development company Garden Communities, has said the center would provide about 650 jobs.
Garden Communities did not respond to messages left at its offices yesterday and Friday.
Friday's fire was reported about 3 a.m., and Caldwell, the FBI spokeswoman, said she did not know if security was provided for the complex.
A sign naming A.S.I. Sterling Security was near an access road to the project. A representative of A.S.I. declined to be interviewed.
The last fire for which ELF has taken responsibility, according to its Web site, was in June in Washington Township, Mich., about 20 miles north of Detroit. The blaze destroyed two large homes under construction in a growing subdivision, said Sgt. Darrell Blalock of the township's Fire Department.
Blalock said he saw "ELF" spray-painted on equipment. Investigators have made no arrests in connection with the case. Blalock said his township, which has several neighborhoods under construction, has been on watch since.
Lending credence to the claim that ELF members set the fire is an activist, Rod Coronado, who identifies himself as an ELF spokesman.
He said the banner leads him to believe the blaze is related to ELF, and added that the fire's characteristics are similar to ELF's methods.
"By virtue of it being a development under construction, and one that was in the most critical stage as far as being susceptible to fire, it shows all the hallmarks of being an ELF action," Coronado said.
However, he said he believes the University City fire was not part of an organized effort to target San Diego-area or California projects.
"It's not as if ELF sat in a war room and said 'Hey, we're going to San Diego,' " said Coronado, by phone from Los Angeles, where he is participating in an animal-rights conference. "I really believe it was a lot more local than that."
Coronado, who once served four years in prison for his role in a fire at a Michigan animal research facility, said that based on financial losses, he believes this fire is "the largest strike" by ELF against developers.
The environmentalist, who is pointedly unrepentant about actions taken against developers, researchers and other industrialists, offered a glimpse into the mindset of those affiliated with the militant group.
Those people, Coronado explained, are willing to take radical action against projects they believe harm the environment because they feel time is running out in the battle to protect sensitive species and habitats.
Coronado, who spoke at an animal-rights event in Hillcrest Friday, said ELF justifies its use of illegal measures because of a belief that governmental agencies are violating environmental laws by not placing curbs on developers and other industries.
He also disagreed with the FBI's declaration that ELF is a terrorist organization.
"I consider a terrorist to be somebody who kills people," Coronado said. Many San Diegans have the opposite opinion.
Julie Meier Wright, president of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and a University City resident, called the group "domestic terrorists," a term also used by the FBI.
"It is awful that people are going to resort to this kind of thing because they don't like something," she said. "I think it's really a shame."
Gary Frey, a 42-year-old Marine, who was among the hundreds evacuated from the adjacent Villas de Renaissance project, looked at the complex remains yesterday with his wife, Priscilla, and children, Andrew, 4, and Rachel, 6.
"Terrorism is terrorism," Frey said. "It's a terrorist act pure and simple in my mind. ... Don't accept it. You can't yield to their strong-arming. Rebuild it."
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