A gaggle of hooded and masked individuals broke dozens of home windows and spray painted anti-government graffiti on the Multnomah County Elections constructing in what Portland police known as an “orchestrated attack.”
The assault occurred simply earlier than 2 a.m. Monday and suspects fled as police arrived on the workplace, which was not occupied on the time, police mentioned.
“It indicates, or demonstrates, what I would consider to be an orchestrated attack on this building,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day advised reporters at a press convention. “It’s about eight to 10 folks. They were on scene for probably two minutes. So they definitely showed up with a plan … and were gone just as quickly just after they did the damage.”
The graffiti was anti-establishment and anti-government, he mentioned.
“At this point we are not suggesting that this was directly related to the inauguration,” he mentioned, referring to President Donald Trump’s swearing in Monday because the forty seventh president of america. “It’s important to remember that we have seen these types of attacks regardless of who’s in office.”
Police had made no arrests as of Tuesday morning, however had been circulating surveillance video and urging anybody with data to contact officers.
In a single video, about eight individuals carrying grey hoodies, face masks, and carrying backpacks stroll up, pull spray paint containers out of baggage and write on the constructing. Others carrying plastic luggage that seem to comprise heavy objects slam them in opposition to the home windows, inflicting them to shatter.
In one other video, 4 individuals carrying the identical clothes method the skin of the constructing. Three had been carrying plastic luggage and a fourth had some form of hammer. They stroll alongside the sidewalk and smash window after window earlier than operating again down the road.
The county’s safety workforce is working with Portland Police to analyze, officers mentioned.
In the meantime, police are nonetheless investigating an assault on a poll field in October. An incendiary system was set off, destroying ballots a couple of week earlier than Election Day. The early morning hearth was extinguished rapidly due to a suppression system contained in the field. Two extra fires in poll containers in Vancouver, Washington, broken tons of of ballots throughout the 2024 election.
The units had been made from a “ very volatile mix” of thermite and scrap metallic, in response to the Federal Bureau of Investigations.