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Sunday, October 25, 2026

The File

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Crime · Sunday, October 25, 2026

Prosecutors charge a man with throwing a firebomb at ICE

The File desk · Oct. 25, 2026, 6:41 a.m. ET

Confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia release of Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. The charge is an allegation. The release says a magistrate signed a criminal complaint.
  • Confirmed
    Inique Hinton, 31, of Douglasville, was charged with attempted arson of a federal building and with damaging government property.
  • Confirmed
    The release says cameras recorded him at the ICE building on Oct. 20. It does not say anyone was hurt.
Inique Hinton, 31, of Douglasville, Georgia, was arrested on Friday on a federal complaint that says he threw a lit bottle at the ICE building in downtown Atlanta on the night of Oct. 20. Prosecutors say the bottle hit the fence and started a fire. The charge is an allegation.1
The U.S. Attorney's Office says that at about 8:12 p.m. on Oct. 20, security cameras captured Hinton walking near the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at 180 Ted Turner Drive. Minutes later, the office says, he ignited an item and threw it at the building. It struck the exterior fence and flames spread. Investigators recovered burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle, and a lighter. A federal magistrate signed a criminal complaint charging attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property.1
Why it matters (Estimate). Throwing a firebomb at a federal office is an attack on a building where people work, even when the release does not say anyone was burned. The complaint says the target was the ICE building in downtown Atlanta and that the fire reached the fence. Whether Hinton did it is for a court. The government has not, in this release, said the fire spread inside.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg called the act a despicable crime. The release does not say anyone was injured, and it does not give a court date. Charges are allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty. Hinton was arrested hours later at a home in Cobb County.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia, “Douglasville Man Charged with Attempted Arson at ICE Facility in Downtown Atlanta,” Friday, October 23, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/douglasville-man-charged-attempted-arson-ice-facility-downtown-atlanta “Inique Hinton, a Douglasville, Georgia resident, was arrested today on federal charges after he allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at the Atlanta Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building earlier this week.” “on October 20, 2026, at approximately 8:12 p.m., security cameras allegedly captured Hinton walking near the ICE building at 180 Ted Turner Drive in downtown Atlanta. Minutes later, Hinton allegedly ignited an item and threw it toward the ICE building, striking the exterior fence and causing flames to spread.” “a federal magistrate judge issued a criminal complaint charging Inique Hinton, 31, of Douglasville, Georgia, with attempted arson of a federal building and depredation of government property.” The release says a criminal complaint only contains charges and that the defendant is presumed innocent. Charges are allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty. Charges are allegations; defendants are presumed innocent.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Whether anyone was injured. Not in the release.
  • Whether the fire entered the building or stopped at the fence. The release says flames spread after the fence was struck and does not describe damage inside.
  • The next court date. Not in the release.
  • A plea. Not in the release.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Douglasville Man Charged with Attempted Arson at ICE Facility in Downtown Atlanta

    U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia · October 23, 2026

    Prosecutors say Inique Hinton threw a Molotov cocktail at the Atlanta ICE building on Oct. 20 and was arrested Friday.

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/douglasville-man-charged-attempted-arson-ice-facility-downtown-atlanta