Return With Me to 2003

August 23, 2003 - Julie Tamaki, Jia-Rui Chong and Mitchell Landsberg - LA Times Staff Writers

Vandals acting in the name of radical environmentalism struck four car dealerships and several individual car owners in the San Gabriel Valley early Friday, setting fire to one Chevrolet dealership and destroying or defacing dozens of Hummers and other SUVs, many painted with the word "polluter."

The Earth Liberation Front, a loose association of militant environmentalists, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The ELF also claimed responsibility recently for a $50-million arson fire that destroyed an apartment construction site in San Diego.                                                                                      By far the most serious attack was on the Clippinger Chevrolet dealership in West Covina, which sustained an estimated $1 million in damage after two fires were set in the car lot and one in a warehouse where service parts were kept. The areas of the lot that were set ablaze contained new cars, mostly H2 Hummers. In Duarte, vandals painted on 30 sport utility vehicles at a Mitsubishi dealership and 20 vehicles at the Ford Advantage Lincoln Mercury dealership across the street. Nine SUVs were similarly vandalized in Arcadia. Read more: http://articles.latimes.com/2003/aug/23/local/me-hummers23