The FBI announced a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the suspect responsible for the ballot box fires that occurred in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

The first incident occurred in Vancouver on Oct. 8, in which a device was placed in a drop box with the phrases “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza” written on it. 

A couple of weeks later, two more ballot boxes — one in Portland and another in Vancouver — were set on fire with incendiary devices marked with the message “Free Gaza.” 

Both ballot boxes were equipped with fire suppression systems, but the system inside the ballot box in Vancouver failed, causing more ballots to be destroyed.

DEVICES USED IN PORTLAND, VANCOUVER BALLOT BOX FIRES HAD ‘FREE GAZA’ AND ‘FREE PALESTINE’ MESSAGE: REPORT

Police said the incendiary devices were placed on the outside of the boxes. 

FBI Portland has said it is actively investigating both situations. 

Officials said they believe that all three incidents are connected and believe that the man suspected of setting the drop boxes on fire is an experienced metalworker and may be planning additional attacks. 

Authorities describe the suspect as a White male between 30 and 40, who is balding with short hair. 

WASHINGTON OFFICIALS RETRIEVE ABOUT 475 DAMAGED BALLOTS FROM BURNED DROP BOX

Police released photos of a suspected vehicle allegedly involved in ballot box fires in Vancouver and Portland. (Portland Police Bureau)

The FBI said a surveillance camera captured images of an early 2003 to 2004 Volvo S-60 sedan, described to be dark, with dark wheels and a light-colored interior, driven by the suspect believed to be responsible for these crimes. 

Officials said the vehicle does not have a Volvo logo on the front grill. 

FIRES AT OREGON AND WASHINGTON BALLOT BOXES CONNECTED, POLICE ID ‘SUSPECT VEHICLE’: ‘ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY’

The Portland Police Bureau released images of the suspect’s vehicle that is believed to be connected to ballot box fires in Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash. (Portland Police Bureau)

At the time of the Oct. 28 incident, the vehicle also displayed a fraudulent temporary Washington state license plate on the rear and no front license plate. The plate, which is not associated with a Volvo, may no longer be on the vehicle, officials said. 

No ballots were damaged in the Oct. 8 incident. Only three ballots were damaged in the arson in Portland, but hundreds were damaged in the attack in Vancouver. 

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Greg Kimsey, the elected auditor in Clark County, Washington, said the exact number of ballots destroyed in Vancouver was not known, but officials retrieved about 475 damaged ballots from the box.

Kimsey previously called the arson a “direct attack on democracy,” just days before Election Day. 

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

The family of an Oregon hospital security guard who was shot to death while protecting a maternity ward from an attacker during the summer of 2023 is suing the medical facility for $35m in damages, saying it ignored warning signs that could have prevented the killing if addressed.

In the days before the killing of 44-year-old Bobby Smallwood made international news headlines, staffers at Portland’s Legacy Good Samaritan hospital made five separate complaints to administrators against the man later charged with his murder, PoniaX Calles, according to the lawsuit from the victim’s family, which was filed on Tuesday.

Calles allegedly threatened violence and tried to strike a nurse while saying, “If you guys keep acting like this, someone is going to get killed around here” – after accompanying his partner to the hospital on 19 July. All were clear violations of Legacy’s policy prohibiting workplace violence and should have resulted in Calles’s immediate removal, but administrators initially responded to the complaints by providing “support options” over email, the lawsuit prepared by attorney Tom D’Amore’s office alleged.

According to the suit, nurses resolved to have Calles removed from the hospital on the morning of 22 July. Smallwood was working that day as an unarmed guard and had received instructions to wait nearby in the hallway while other hospital security staff searched the room of Calles’s partner, finding ammunition and multiple guns.

The lawsuit alleges that, for more than 40 minutes, Smallwood’s colleagues failed to notify him of their dangerous discovery – or their having learned that Calles had an additional gun in his possession. Hospital staffers encountered Calles prior to his departure – and before they had declared a “code silver” that would have alerted everyone there of a potential shooting threat, the lawsuit said.

Calles turned around, fired at Smallwood, struck him in the neck and mortally wounded him, the lawsuit said.

Calles allegedly had a history of arrests on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing, including one case in which he was accused of stabbing someone at a restaurant in the face.

Calles, 33, fled the hospital and was shot to death by police as officers moved in to arrest him, authorities said.

“The repeated failures of Legacy Good Samaritan to follow their own safety protocols directly led to the tragically preventable death of Bobby Smallwood,” D’Amore said. “Despite documented threats and abusive behavior that required immediate removal under hospital policy, Legacy allowed a dangerous individual to remain on the premises for three days until those threats escalated to violence.”

Smallwood’s parents said they were told that their son was standing between Calles and patients along with staff in the hallway of a hospital maternity ward. His family is seeking $30m and $5m in non-economic and monetary damages, respectively, from the hospital over his murder, said a statement attributed to his parents, Walter and Tammy Smallwood.

“Every day we grieve the loss of our son and all the years ahead that should have been his to live,” the Smallwoods’ statement said. “Nothing can bring Bobby back, but we will not stop fighting until Legacy is held fully responsible for what they took from our family.”

A Legacy Health spokesperson declined to comment, the Oregonian newspaper reported. Days after Smallwood’s shooting death, the health network that runs Legacy Good Samaritan announced it would add metal detectors with bag searches at each of its hospitals’ entrances, equip lead security officers with stun guns and weigh whether any more measures were necessary.

The lawsuit from Smallwood’s family said Legacy Good Samaritan “only checked individuals for weapons at a single entrance equipped with a metal detector located in the emergency department” at the time he was killed.

Smallwood’s death illustrated the dangers of the unarmed security and highlighted how – as the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration says – “workplace violence is a recognized hazard” in the medical field.

Brigham Young, Colorado and Washington State all climbed three positions in the second rankings released by the selection committee.

Originally Published: November 12, 2024 at 6:59 PM PST