Burton Family Victims of Possible Hate Crime for Third Time

By Mark Bullion
Wed 6:43 PM, Jul 26, 2017
         
BURTON (WJRT) - (07/26/17) - A Burton family is fearing for their lives in their own home, after someone firebombed their house early Wednesday morning.

"My daughter heard it and told us that somebody threw a molotov cocktail at the house," said homeowner Larry Richardson.

This is not the first time the family has dealt with vandalism to their Burton home. Just last month, the home was spray painted with 'KKK' and profanities.

"When someone is trying to hurt us at night while we're sleeping, you know, that's really scary," said homeowner Gaynell Richardson.

Wednesday morning's incident was the third time the home has been hit with vandalism.

"The scary part about it is they're escalating. Last night's incident was a very, very serious incident when you think of what happened, people home, middle of the night, someone could have been seriously injured, somebody could have been killed," said Burton Police Chief Tom Osterholzer.

Police say unlike last month's vandalism, evidence recovered from Wednesday morning's firebombing could bring police closer to making an arrest.

"We believe there was at least four or five individuals involved, four or five individuals know. People know information. They need to stop this and they need to come forward," Osterholzer said.

Burton Police are continuing to investigate. At this point, police do not have a motive.