The FBI and local authorities are investigating the explosion of a homemade bomb at a church in El Monte that drew protests due to its anti-LGBTQ teachings.
The attack occurred early Saturday at First Works Baptist Church on block 2600 on Tyler Avenue, officials said. No injuries were reported, but the building was damaged.
El Monte police arrived at the scene shortly after one in the morning and saw smoke coming out of the windows, Lt. Christopher Cano told reporters.
FBI members investigate an explosion that occurred on Saturday at First Works Baptist Church in El Monte.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“It looked like the church walls had been vandalized, as well as all the windows,” said Cano. “[They] it seemed that at first it was broken and then we realized that the windows were not broken, that they had actually exploded by some kind of explosion. “
The church pastor, Bruce Mejia, filed a police report about two weeks ago after receiving a threat of arson on social media, said El Monte police chief David Reynoso. It is too early to know if the explosion is linked to the threat, Reynoso said.
“We are very grateful that no one was inside the church and no one was driving during the explosion that could have been injured,” he said.
Workers clean up the scene where authorities are investigating an explosion that occurred on Saturday at the Baptist Church of the First Works in El Monte.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The church has been the scene of protests in recent weeks because its teachings promote prejudices against the LGBTQ community. An online petition asking the mayor of El Monte to remove the church from the city has collected more than 14,900 signatures.
There is no indication that the protests were related to the threat of arson or subsequent attack, Reynoso said on Saturday.
“I don’t even want to talk about the protests because it wouldn’t be fair in any way to link the two together,” he said. “We cannot speculate that someone involved in previous demonstrations is connected or involved in this in any way.”
The group that organized the protests, Keep El Monte Friendly, issued a statement expressing “deep shock” and said that a demonstration planned for Sunday outside the church would be canceled.
“We understand that what they preach can upset people,” wrote the group in a statement released on social media. “However, we would never promote, encourage or tolerate any violence or acts of harm.
“Our intention is to bring the community together and keep El Monte a safe place for everyone, regardless of gender identity, race or sexual orientation.”
The city of El Monte has worked with the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis and the County Human Relations Commission to ease tensions between the church and community members, trying to establish conversations between the two. sides, said Alma Martinez, El Monte city manager.
“Although we do not know at the moment who is involved in the crime, as a city we want to make sure that we continue to work on reducing the situation to promote peace, security and respect in our community,” wrote Martinez in an email. “Crimes of this nature are not acceptable.”
Although the protest organizers expressed a willingness to meet with church leaders, the pastor declined, said a source close to the investigation.
Solis said he is aware of the pastor’s anti-LGBTQ and misogynistic sermons, but that “violence is never the answer, even in response to hate speech.”
“I also support the right to protest peacefully; however, this attack is wrong and dangerous, ”she said in a statement. “I urge city leaders, religious leaders and civic leaders to come together and work together to address hate issues in our community.”
First Works Baptist is part of a network of some 30 churches called the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement, which, say experts in hate and extremism, is growing and spreading violent rhetoric against LGBTQ people. At a preaching conference near Sacramento in August 2019 in the presence of Mejia, several of the speakers asked the United States government to start executing LGBTQ people. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists First Works Baptist as one of 88 hate groups in California.
Following the teachings of the movement, Mejia quoted Bible verses that he says justify the death of LGBTQ people and preached that it is acceptable to kill a person if he is a thief or pedophile. He also used the pulpit to speak out against the arrest of Kyle Rittenhouse in the fatal shooting of two protesters during the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, to urge men to ban their wives from working outside the home and to argue against vaccines and coronavirus precautions.
El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona described the incident at the church as “highly worrying” and said she was calling for a thorough and thorough investigation.
“At this very moment, we must be together to raise each other, affirming the slogan of the city of El Monte, ‘Welcome to Friendly El Monte’,” said Ancona in a statement.
The FBI said its bomb technicians, along with experts from the LA county sheriff’s bomb squad, continued to process the scene and that a joint investigation was underway for the person or group responsible for the attack. Anyone with information has been asked to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles field office at (310) 477-6565.
Hailey Branson-Potts, editor of the Times team, contributed to this report.