A 54-year-old man was in custody Tuesday for allegedly throwing or dropping an incendiary device at the federal building in downtown Los Angeles.
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Jose Francisco Jovel of Los Angeles was arrested Monday morning outside the building at 300 N. Los Angeles St., according to the FBI.
A criminal complaint was expected to be filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office sometime Tuesday, according to the agency. No other specifics were immediately released.
Los Angeles police and fire crews responded to the federal building at 8:35 a.m. Monday.
A Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman said crews responded to a report of a Molotov cocktail being used at the location and one of the arriving units subsequently reported a small container being found with an unknown substance inside.
Initial reports on Monday suggested that the fire department had responded to a medical call that turned into a hazardous materials investigation due to a substance found on the person at the scene.
NBC4 reported that the man had tossed at least one Molotov cocktail- type device toward the front of the federal building, but it did not ignite.
At least a portion of the building was evacuated while police conducted an investigation, and Los Angeles Street was closed between Temple and Aliso streets. The area was cleared by about 11 a.m.
According to NBC4, authorities were also investigating a possible arson fire that occurred around 4 a.m. Monday at Jovel's apartment building in the 100 block of North Westmoreland Avenue in Koreatown.
Molotov cocktails are hand-thrown incendiary weapons consisting of breakable containers filled with flammable substances and equipped with fuses. A typical version consists of a glass bottle filled with flammable liquid sealed with a cloth wick.
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