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The FBI is investigating two firebombings targeting scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as the latest in a rash of attacks against biomedical researchers who experiment on animals.
One scientist and his family, including two small children, were forced to flee from a second-storey window yesterday after a firebomb was lit on their front porch, filling the off-campus house with smoke, Santa Cruz police said.
The same day, a firebomb destroyed a car belonging to another researcher parked at university housing on campus.
Investigators said they were treating the attacks as "domestic terrorism".
The attacks came four days after police obtained threatening animal rights pamphlets left at a Santa Cruz cafe containing the names and home addresses of university scientists. "Animal abusers everywhere beware," the pamphlets read. "We know where you live."
In recent years, three UCLA researchers have been targeted with firebombs, though two failed to ignite.
