The FBI on Wednesday offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of two individuals suspected of using a homemade explosive to bomb the First Works Baptist Church in El Monte, which has drawn criticism for its extremist anti-LGBTQ views.
Along with the reward, the FBI released photos from security camera footage captured at the church just before the attack on Jan. 23, showing a man and woman, both wearing jeans, dark hoodies and masks.
Shortly before the explosion, the pair had smashed a church window, lit an object, threw it into the church, and then drove off in a vehicle, the FBI said in its announcement, according to security camera footage and witness accounts. The FBI also obtained footage of the actual explosion, but did not release the images on Wednesday.
“This appears to be isolated, at least in the region at this time, but there is concern that there could be additional attacks,” said Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. The man and woman in the photos are wanted by the FBI for questioning, Eimiller said.
FBI investigators described the man in the video as between 5 feet and 8 inches and 6 feet and 1 inch tall, weighing approximately 170 to 180 pounds. The woman was described as between 5 feet and 3 inches and 5 feet and 5 inches tall, weighing approximately 125 to 135 pounds.
On the morning of the blast on Jan 23, around 1 a.m., El Monte police arrived at the church on 2600 Tyler Avenue to find the windows blown out and profanities painted on the church’s front walls. The interior of the church was significantly damaged. No one was injured in the explosion.
Bomb technicians with the FBI and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recovered a piece of the explosive device at the church. The FBI has described the bomb as “an IED,” or a homemade or “improvised” explosive device.
Due to unsafe conditions, city officials red tagged the church building, which remained closed as of this week, said El Monte Police Chief David Reynoso. Congregants have been meeting at other locations for church services, according to livestreams of the services posted to the church’s YouTube page.
Before the bombing, the church’s leader, Pastor Bruce Mejia faced intense scrutiny over sermons that called for executions of gay and lesbian people. First Works Baptist church has been listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s lists of anti-LGBTQ groups.
El Monte residents decried Mejia’s teachings at City Council meetings and during protests at the church, describing the rhetoric as “homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic.” An online petition calling for the removal of the church from the city has gathered more than 15,800 signatures. “Mejia twists God’s word and actively discriminates against the LGBTQIA+ community,” the petition said. “We need to let Bruce Mejia and his following know that they are not welcomed.”
A week before the bombing, Mejia said he received an arson threat on social media, which he reported to El Monte police.
The FBI has yet to determine whether the church’s anti-LGBTQ teachings were a part of the motive for the bombing, but Eimiller said investigators have not taken anything off the table.
Mejia’s calls for violence against LGBTQ people are notable given the continued string of violent crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual individuals, along with a 2020 that saw a record number of transgender homicides, Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino said following the attack, also adding that bombs and spray paint should not be used to combat prejudice.
In a recording of a sermon delivered a day after the bombing at an undisclosed location, Mejia said the bombing was “a little inconvenience” and called the attackers “sodomites” and terrorists, and said they were trying to “intimidate us.”
Chief Reynoso said there have been no additional incidents reported at the church since the blast.
The FBI urged anyone with information about the bombing to contact its Los Angeles field office.
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FBI offers $25,000 reward in El Monte church bombing - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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