An early morning fire that gutted a Family Dollar store in East Point was firebombed by two people who threw Molotov cocktails into the store, authorities said Wednesday.
"There were two individuals, and we have them on surveillance tape, they were hooded," state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine told the AJC. "They broke in the glass on the front door and they threw in multiple Molotov cocktails. We saw them light them and throw them in."
Oxendine said a reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information leading to arrests in the case. Anyone with information should call 800-282-5804, he said.
"We really need the public's help," Oxendine said. "We think these people are very dangerous. An individual is very reckless and very violent in nature if they're going to use a Molotov cocktail."
Oxendine said it would be accurate to describe the incident as a firebombing. "A Molotov cocktail is an incendiary bomb made of gasoline."
While the dollar store was destroyed, firefighters contained the blaze before it spread to an adjacent Piggly Wiggly grocery.
The intense fire broke out just before 3 a.m. in the Family Dollar in the 3100 block of Washington Road. The entire East Point Fire Department responded, along with College Park and Atlanta firefighters. It took more than two hours for firefighters to knock down the flames.
No one was hurt.
East Point Deputy Fire Chief William Ware said the Family Dollar was "90 to 100 percent" damaged and that two adjacent businesses, including the Piggly Wiggly, sustained mainly smoke and water damage.
"At this point we don't have any fire involvement at the Piggly Wiggly," Ware said. "It looks as if we kept the fire to the original building."
Washington Road remained closed near Harris Drive for more than two hours while fire crews worked to douse the flames.
--Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this report.
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