While investigators are still working to identify the substance, they are calling the rudimentary device used to release it a weapon of mass destruction and say the attack on Café Risque was an act of domestic terrorism.
“It comes under domestic terrorism, [and] we’re going to look at it as such,” Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Keith Faulk told a local TV station.
Faulk said it will take some time to identify the substance, but early tests show it was caustic and corrosive and had a high pH level, adding that the perpetrator will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when caught.
Under Florida law, acts of domestic terrorism are considered a first-degree felony, punishable by hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and up to 30 years in prison.
While no one was injured in the attack, it drained the resources of several state and local agencies, including the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Gainesville Fire Rescue Haz-Mat Team, with initial clean up efforts costing taxpayers an estimated $10,000. The store’s owner, Jerry Sullivan, said it could cost him another $20,000 to pay a state-approved vendor to finish the job.
Faulk said there are no official suspects yet, but Sullivan said he knows who did it based on surveillance videos. Officials, he said, are just waiting to build a case before releasing more information on the perpetrator.
Café Risque has been the subject of protests since Sullivan first announced plans to open the store earlier this year. Faulk sent a stern warning to anyone who would attempt to use intimidation or illegal actions to keep Sullivan from opening the store as planned.
“This man [Sullivan] went through every hoop and hurdle that he was asked to do, and he is legally opening that building,” Faulk said. “It is wrong for anyone to take it upon themselves to instill fear and injury because they dislike his business.”
