A fire that erupted Wednesday at a Planned Parenthood facility in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has officially been ruled as arson. Apparently, a rock had been thrown through a window, enabling the assailant to then throw a container of gasoline through the same window, which ignited the flames. Luckily, nobody was inside, and the fire was put out by the building's sprinkler systems.
"Crews reported the smell of gasoline at the scene of the arson late Wednesday in Thousand Oaks," explained Mike Lindbery, the Ventura County Fire Captain, according to Fox News.
John Reilly, the captain of the sheriff's office, and members of the police force are currently examining the security footage. "The footage is really poor. It's very dark, but the cameras did capture someone," explained Reilly, adding that footage was found of a suspect wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a face mask.
There have not been any arrests yet, and the police department has not released any information in regards to the motive behind the arsenal attack, reported the Associated Press.
The incident happened on the same day that Congress avoided a government shutdown over the nonprofit female-care organization. It has been reported that Planned Parenthood was giving tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers, which the organization has denied.
Cecile Richard, the president of Planned Parenthood, testified before Congress about the videos that were released showing the illegal selling of fetal tissue. She said that she is proud of Planned Parenthood's use of fetal tissue for research, but that is such a small part of what Planned Parenthood is all about, according to Breitbart.
Jenna Tosh, chief executive of Planned Parenthood in Santa Barbara, explained that the Thousand Oaks center sees more than 7,000 patients per year, and also provides a wide net of health care services such as birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, and such preventative care as cancer screenings.
"Our commitment today and always is to the health and safety of our patients and staff," said Tosh, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Thousand Oaks Planned Parenthood building will be open to the public Monday.
