A “serial criminal” and “coward” was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail at a hotel where more than two dozen Department of Homeland Security agents were staying as violent anti-ICE riots held the city hostage.
Eric Anthony Rodriguez, 39, who hails from California, allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, where 15 agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and 12 Customs and Border Protection agents were staying, early Saturday, officials told The Post.
The Los Angeles Police Department received a call about an “incendiary device investigation” early Saturday after witnesses said that a male suspect had lit and launched a Molotov cocktail toward the hotel.
The device landed harmlessly in some bushes, and a hotel employee was able to put out the fire, according to Officer David Cuellar, an LAPD spokesman.
No one was injured in the attack.
“This coward threw a Molotov cocktail at a hotel in Los Angeles where 27 DHS law enforcement officers were staying,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release.
A joint investigation between the LAPD’s Major Crimes unit and the Los Angeles Fire Department’s arson investigators zeroed in on Rodriguez, Cuellar said.
He was nabbed Tuesday morning without incident near the scene of the initial attack, Cuellar said.
“Anyone who threatens the lives of federal officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law — and that is exactly what will happen to Rodriguez,” McLaughlin said.
“If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged Rodriguez with one count of possession of a destructive device and one count of arson, Cuellar said.
“Anthony Rodriguez is a serial criminal who will face justice for threatening the lives of federal law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.
“Dangerous rhetoric by sanctuary politicians has fanned the flames of violence against federal law enforcement — and it has led to a 500% increase in assaults against ICE,” she added.
Rodriguez has a criminal record going back more than two decades, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case. He was convicted of a felony in 2004 for receiving stolen property.
In March 2024, he was convicted in Los Angeles County Superior Court of robbery in the second degree. He was convicted of five other felonies between 2004 and 2024, including an assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.
Rodriguez had an outstanding felony warrant for violating parole when he was arrested, sources said.
He is just the latest to be collared over Molotov-cocktail related attacks on law enforcement during the protests.
On June 7, the height of the violent anti-ICE riots in the City of Angels, Emiliano Garduno-Galvez was arrested and charged with attempted murder for hurling a Molotov cocktail at LA County sheriff’s deputies, police said.
Garduno-Galvez, who had already been deported from the US once, had been arrested twice in 2024. He was out due to California’s sanctuary laws, which meant ICE detention orders were ignored by local officers according to DHS.
“These are the types of criminal illegal aliens that rioters are fighting to protect,” said McLaughlin. “The Los Angeles rioters will not stop us or slow us down.”
