A new video shows the moment two alleged arsonists turned Sunday’s peaceful protest through the streets of Long Beach into a devastating inferno.
The video shows the men toss two beer bottles allegedly filled with gas into the Men’s Suit Outlet on Pine Avenue before fleeing on foot. Moments later, an officer arrives at the scene as the fire spread and angered community members tried to help.
“They wanted all of that madness,” filmmaker Chris Vinan said. “They planned that store, I feel, because they did say, ‘That’s the shop. That’s the shop,’ twice.”
Vinan was behind the lens on Sunday documenting an entire block of the city of Long Beach being looted and burned.
In the end, 70 businesses were looted and 75 people were arrested.
The Men’s Suit Outlet, in business for 17 years on the same corner, was the most heavily damaged building in the city.
And tonight, although it was chaos that Vinan captured on camera, he said what needed to be remembered was the message of the movement.