Man held over consulate blaze
Print Edition
A CHINESE national called police to tell them he lit a blaze at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, telling investigators he was driven by voices he was hearing, according to the FBI.
Feng Yanfeng, 39, of Daly City, California, told investigators he unsuccessfully tried to use his passport to ignite gasoline he had poured over the consulate’s door and steps, an FBI affidavit said.
FBI Special Agent in Charge David Johnson said Feng was arrested at his home last Friday after he called police in Daly City, a San Francisco suburb.
The suspect, who has permanent resident status, made his first court appearance on Monday on charges of causing damage to property of a foreign government and arson.
Johnson said an investigation into the motive is ongoing but the FBI believes terrorism, politics or civil rights were not involved.
“Right now, we’re looking at this as purely a criminal matter,” he said.
In an interview with FBI agents, Feng said he had bought the gasoline at a gas station near the consulate.
He then drove to the building and placed two containers filled with gasoline at the consulate’s front door. When his passport failed to burn, the FBI affidavit said Feng used a lighter, igniting the gas before driving away.
Two days after the fire, Feng called the Daly City police dispatcher and identified himself in Chinese as the person who “made the fire” in front of the Chinese government building, according to an FBI translation of the tape.
FBI agent Michael Eldridge said that, after being advised of his right to remain silent, Feng told agents “he targeted the Chinese Consulate because all the voices he had been hearing were in Chinese, and the Chinese Consulate had to have been involved.”
No one was hurt in the blaze that charred a doorway and damaged the lobby of the building.
Consulate workers said surveillance cameras showed a person leave a minivan with two containers of gasoline, pour the fuel on the building and ignite the blaze. The FBI said on Monday that agents had recovered a minivan believed to be the one seen in the video from a residential complex across the street in the city’s Western Addition area.
The FBI said no bomb-making materials were found, but they declined to discuss what evidence, if any, was uncovered.
Consulate spokesman Wang Chuan has condemned the attack but would not speculate on a motive.
In March 2008, a group of people poured flammable liquid on a security gate at the rear of the building and set it on fire. No injuries were reported.
The FBI said the latest fire was not related to the 2008 blaze.
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