Race-Related Arson Damages Family’s Home

A Latino family of four was in seclusion Sunday after arsonists set fire to their Palmdale house and spray-painted “wite power” and “your family dies” on the walls.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department listed the blaze, which caused $80,000 in damage, as racially motivated.

“There were several swastikas and racial epithets on the walls,” Deputy Jim Hellmold said.

The fire shocked neighbors in the middle-class, racially mixed neighborhood. “Nobody’s hating each other,” said Alan Bluemm, who reported the fire just before 1 a.m. Sunday. “It gives you kind of an eerie feeling.”

The Sheriff’s Department identified the occupants of the house as Jesus Dominguez, an exterminator; his wife, Esther, who works for a bank in the San Fernando Valley; and their two small children, 3 and 5. Investigators said an unknown amount of jewelry was taken from the house.

Neighbors said there was no history of racial intolerance or hostility toward the family. “We’ve got Hispanics, blacks, Asians and Filipinos,” Bluemm said.

The family moved into the neighborhood three years ago, neighbors said, describing Jesus Dominguez as a friendly, outgoing man.

Rhodie Herrera, a sister-in-law of the victims, said an unidentified man tried to break into the house a month before, but was bitten by the family dog and fled, leaving a shoe and a bloody trail. She said she did not know whether the two incidents were related.

Herrera said the family spent Saturday evening at an outing in San Fernando. When they returned home at 2 a.m., the Fire Department was cleaning up. Upon seeing her house, Esther Dominguez broke down in tears.

Herrera declined to say where the family was staying Sunday.

The inside of the house was blackened by smoke, and the windows were broken out on the first and second floors. Hellmold said arson technicians found “burn patterns” inside the residence indicating that the fire was the result of arson.

Graffiti, spray-painted in red, marred the walls on both stories.

Among the graffiti was a six-pointed star enclosed in a circle with the word “DIE” scrawled underneath. Another displayed the word “Mexico” covered with a large X.

Carlos Zuniga, 14, a neighbor, said he was walking to school in the same area recently when a group of white teen-agers drove by and screamed racial epithets at him.

Others, however, said everyone got along in the neighborhood of well-kept $95,000 to $130,000 homes, calling it a quiet place to live. “So we thought,” said one neighbor.