Arson Fires Hit 4 Vietnamese Shops

Los Angeles and Garden Grove arson investigators said Tuesday that they are looking into the possibility that almost simultaneous arson fires at four businesses owned by Vietnamese immigrants were set by other Vietnamese, perhaps anti-communist refugees angry at merchants who ship American goods to their homeland.

A Vietnamese community leader, who asked not to be identified, said that he had no proof of the arsonists’ motives but that tension over such shipments has been increasing.

“Some (Vietnamese) political associations in America absolutely don’t want any goods going to communist Vietnam,” the source said. The protesters think that shipments of consumer items to relatives in Vietnam by Vietnamese-Americans “help the Vietnamese communists build up their economy,” he said.

All four arson incidents took place at stores, two in Los Angeles’ Chinatown and two in Garden Grove, that offer such a service.

The fires all broke out before dawn Monday. The most serious did an estimated $450,000 damage to the Asian Tower shopping center in Chinatown, including a textile firm that makes shipments to Vietnam. About the same time, another fire broke out in a shop a block away under the same ownership, a Vietnamese brother and sister.

Firefighters subdued the second fire with only “minimal damage,” said Capt. Gary Seidel, chief of operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department arson squad. Both fires were caused by similar incendiary devices, he said.

Capt. Bill Dumas, Garden Grove Fire Department arson investigator, said the most serious fire in that city did $130,000 damage to a textile and videotape rental shop on Brookhurst Street near Hazard Street. About $100,000 of the damage was the loss of videotapes, he said.

The fire was caused by a “time-delay device” placed in a package that was left with the operators of the store to ship to Vietnam, Dumas said.

Another package, containing an identical incendiary device, was left at a textile shop on Bolsa and Magnolia streets, he said, but “fizzled.” It burned a hole in the package that was noticed by the shopkeeper before any damage was done, he said.

Seidel said that he was still trying to determine if the Los Angeles and Garden Grove crimes were linked but that the possibility of politically based arson was being investigated.

Dumas said the fires appeared to be the result of “a problem in the Vietnamese community,” reaching beyond Garden Grove, that he did not want to discuss.