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Molotov cocktails damage day care center

No one was inside during the attack on the Spring Hill center. The State Fire Marshal's Office is trying to find who is responsible.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 12, 2005

	[Times photo: Edmund Fountain]
	Kimberly Mason, 29, of Spring Hill, from left, Jennifer Piarulli, 19, of Spring Hill and Yulonda Miller, 25, of Brooksville -- employees of the Discovery Point Child Development Center in Spring Hill -- sort through toys outside the center Tuesday after someone threw four Molotov cocktails at the building early that morning, starting a small fire.

SPRING HILL - Who would throw Molotov cocktails at a day care center?

Authorities don't know.

The owner doesn't know.

"Hard to tell," Sergio Sierra said Tuesday afternoon. "Sometimes you get employees who leave upset. Sometimes you have parents who leave upset for whatever reason. Or it could've been a random crime."

Four of the crude gas-filled bottles started a fire early Tuesday morning at the Discovery Point Child Development Center, 100 Seven Hills Drive. The automatic sprinkler system put out the fire before Spring Hill Fire Rescue crews arrived.

The fire was confined to a room on the left side of the 14-month-old building. Sierra estimated the damage at $20,000 or more.

No one was inside at the time of the attack.

The State Fire Marshal's Office was investigating.

"We've got some leads," state fire marshal's Detective Randy St. Clair said Tuesday afternoon from his Tampa office. "We're tracking those right now."

No arrests were made as of Tuesday evening.

Authorities were asking anyone with information to call 1-877-662-7766. The Florida Advisory Committee on Arson Prevention has offered a $2,500 reward for tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of whomever is responsible.

The initial fire call came at 4:44 a.m. Sierra got a call shortly before 5 at his home in Land O'Lakes.

One of the Molotov cocktails broke a window and went into the beginners room, for kids 10 to 16 months. The others struck the building and damaged the roof and an outside wall.

Molotov cocktails are bottles filled with flammable liquid and a rag that is then lit.

Spring Hill Fire Rescue Lt. Alex Lopez said he hadn't before seen a Molotov cocktail used in his 13 years in the area. The broken glass from bottles and the burn pattern at Discovery Point were giveaways.

"It was obviously somebody's intent to cause damage," Lopez said.

The day care center is part of a Georgia chain. There is also a Discovery Point in Trinity in Pasco County. Another one is scheduled to open soon in Lutz in Hillsborough County.

The Spring Hill location is visited by more than 200 children and has close to 30 employees.

Parents started showing up with their children at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Sierra had to tell them what had happened. The facility closed all day but will reopen this morning, Sierra said.

About a dozen employees were cleaning up early Tuesday afternoon. Most of the rooms smelled like carpet cleaner. The beginners room still smelled like smoke.

"The whole room's got to be replaced," Sierra said. "Everything."

The blue carpet was charred and smeared with soot in a couple of spots. Parts of the roof were gray and black. One of the two windows was broken.

Outside, by the playground with the Kid Time jungle gym, part of the building's wall was black and a plastic Little Tikes toy was melted to the point of unrecognizable.

Michael Kruse can be reached at 352 848-1434 or mkruse@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 12, 2005, 12:17:15]