Authorities on Monday were working to identify those responsible for setting an autonomous vehicle on fire in San Francisco over the weekend.
The empty Waymo vehicle went up in flames Saturday in the area of Jackson Street near Grant Avenue in Chinatown during Lunar New Year celebrations.
Bakery owner Dick Lee said when traffic came to a stop on Jackson, he saw a group surround the Waymo. He said they had been tagging up the street before coming to the parked driverless SUV.
From witness video, people in the group could be seen marking and spray painting the Waymo. Then someone wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses broke out the rear passenger door window and another person used a skateboard to hit the vehicle.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
At some point after the windows were broken, someone threw a firework or fireworks into the car.
Lee said police officers have already come into the neighborhood and have started asking some of the merchants with security cameras if they can have access to that video so they can try to identify as many people as possible that were involved in the incident.
Several videos of the burning SUV quickly circulated on social media. Among those that commented was the U.S. attorney's office from the Northern District of California, citing a federal statute against vandalizing or destroying property used in interstate commerce.
Local
During a news conference Monday at the U.S. district courthouse in San Francisco, the FBI would not confirm it was part of an investigation into the fire.
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin dismissed comments by some that the fire was in response to a backlash against tech companies in the city.
"I've heard all sorts of theories," Peskin said. "I really don't care whether or not this is anger against tech companies. It is dangerous, it is illegal, and it's not gonna be tolerated."
He said the group was more likely continuing a run of neighborhood vandalism.
He also said there are videos he's seen of some in the same group tagging businesses in Chinatown hours before the incident with the Waymo.
