Police are investigating an overnight explosion at a church in a Los Angeles suburb

Police are investigating an overnight explosion at a church in a Los Angeles suburb

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The police were called to the Baptist Church of First Works in El Monte around 1 am, where they found the church walls vandalized and smoke coming out of the church window, which appeared to have been broken.

“We realized that the windows were not broken, that they had actually exploded in some kind of explosion,” said Lt. Christopher Cano of the El Monte Police Department.

The FBI’s field office in Los Angeles said the agents responded together with the El Monte police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to what it called an “IED attack” on the church. IED is an acronym for improvised explosive device.

“Bomb technicians and an evidence response team are suing the damaged scene. No injuries have been reported,” the field office said in a statement.

The field office said a joint investigation is underway and anyone with information about the incident should contact the Los Angeles field office.

The police did not provide further details and church representatives were not available for comment.

The church has been the center of some local protests over its condemnation of same-sex relationships, according to CNN affiliate KCAL.
The church is described as an “independent and fundamental” Baptist church on its website, which includes a doctrinal statement listing the church’s beliefs. One of the listed beliefs is: “We believe that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination that God punishes with the death penalty.”
A protest scheduled for Sunday by a group called Keep El Monte Friendly has been canceled, according to the group’s Facebook page.

El Monte is located about 16 miles east of Los Angeles.

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