Motive Sought in Car Bombing at Repair Shop
Sheriff’s investigators on Thursday were trying to determine a motive for the Wednesday night bombing of a car parked at an auto repair shop in La Mirada. Shop owner Simon Matta was doing the same.
“I hope it was someone who thought they were being funny,” he said from his office cubicle at Matta’s Texaco on Adelfa Drive. “I wouldn’t want it to turn out to be racism or something political.”
Matta, who immigrated from Lebanon 15 years ago, said sheriff’s detectives questioned him about past threats or acts of vandalism that may be connected with unrest in the Middle East.
“Vandalism is normal,” he said, citing several incidents during the eight years his shop has repaired cars in the mostly residential neighborhood. “It has always been windshields broken, and stereos stolen. Nothing like a bombing though.”
Investigators said the explosive was a galvanized pipe filled with a “low-level” explosive--perhaps black powder.
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