Georgia Man Charged With Throwing A Firebomb At The ICE Building In Atlanta

A Georgia man has been charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail at the federal building in downtown Atlanta that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices and the Atlanta Immigration Court. Inique Hinton, 31, of Douglasville, is charged by federal criminal complaint with attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Hinton was arrested on Friday, October 23, shortly after 6 p.m., at a home on Panda Lane in Cobb County. Prosecutors described the home as one familiar to him, though not his primary residence. The arrest was peaceful, and the complaint against him had been issued by a federal magistrate judge. No attorney for Hinton is listed in court records.

The attack happened on Tuesday, October 20, between about 8:12 and 8:14 p.m., at 180 Ted Turner Drive. Surveillance cameras allegedly show Hinton approaching the building, igniting an item and throwing it; the object struck the building’s exterior fence and flames spread. Atlanta police officers witnessed the attack and chased him on foot, but lost him. Investigators recovered a burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle and a lighter at the scene. No injuries were reported.

The FBI released surveillance images of the suspect on Wednesday, October 21, and offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his identification and arrest.

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg called the attack “a despicable, terroristic crime.” “We are going to respond with extreme severity… we need to send a message that this is not OK,” he said. “An attack on federal property is an attack against our democracy, and it also is an attack against the law enforcement officers who show up every day and swear an oath to defend this country.” Hertzberg noted the building had also been targeted in the summer of 2020, adding: “We are not going back to that.” He called the investigation exemplary, and said he was not aware of any prior convictions for Hinton.

Marlo Graham, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Atlanta, said: “Those who attack our government buildings with fire and violence will be held accountable.” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a DHS statement, called the attack part of “a dangerous and unacceptable escalation of violence against the men and women of ICE,” and cited a more-than-1,600 percent increase in assaults on ICE officers, a figure given by the department.

The FBI’s first statement on the night of the attack put the incident at about 9:30 p.m. and said there was no known threat to public safety, with evidence technicians collecting material at the scene. The criminal complaint and the FBI’s reward notice put the attack itself at about 8:14 p.m. WSB-TV reporters at the scene spotted a plastic lighter and shopping bags that appeared to contain lighter fluid on the sidewalk near the building.

Atlanta is not the only such case this year. At least three other current or proposed immigration facilities have been targets of similar fire attacks in 2026, and the Justice Department is already prosecuting defendants for anti-ICE property-damage attacks in New York and Arizona. In the Arizona case, prosecutors say the defendant drove up to an ICE property in February, broke a window with a propane tank and set fire to window shades inside the lobby, all on surveillance video; after his arrest in May, he told investigators he wanted to “go be Batman” to save “his people” from DHS, according to prosecutors.

If convicted, Hinton faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison on the attempted arson charge, and up to 10 years on the government-property charge.

Sources: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia; CNN; the FBI.