Racism Sparked House Blaze, Authorities Say : Arson: Swastikas, epithets are found scrawled on the charred walls of a Latino family’s gutted home. No one is hurt.

A Latino family of four was in seclusion Sunday after arsonists set fire to their 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 damage to the home in the 1700 block of East Avenue R-4, 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 and 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 children, ages 3 and 5. Sheriff’s 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 Dominguez family. “We’ve got Hispanics, blacks, Asians and Filipinos,” Bluemm said.

The family moved into the neighborhood three years ago, neighbors said, adding that Jesus Dominguez is a friendly, outgoing man.

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

Ironically, the dog was not at home when the fire started, neighbors said.

Herrera said the family spent Saturday evening on 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.

The Dominguez family was not home Sunday, and Herrera declined to say where they were.

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 the fire was the result of arson. Firefighters said the blaze began on the first floor, in the kitchen.

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 piece of graffiti displayed the word “Mexico” covered with a large X.

Neighbors said they heard breaking glass just before the fire broke out. “Then I saw flashing on [my] bedroom wall,” said Alvaro Talamantes, a construction worker who lives behind the Dominguez house.

Talamantes ran out of his bedroom and saw flames shooting out of the Dominguez home. His wife, Rosie, said she heard what sounded like arguing just before the fire broke out.

“I thought the neighbors were having a fight,” she said.

On Sunday, neighbors came by and looked in the broken windows, shaking their heads. “We’ve got a problem,” said a man who declined to give his name.

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 in the neighborhood of modest, well-kept homes that range from $95,000 to $130,000 got along. They wondered why the Dominguez house was singled out.

Tom Walton, another neighbor, said the Dominguezes were good neighbors. Their house was vacant for several years before they moved in and cleaned it up. They put in a new lawn, cut the weeds and built a new cinder-block wall along the side of the lot.

“They were really good people,” said a neighbor.

In fact, most everyone agreed the street was a quiet, good place to live.

“So we thought,” said one neighbor.