Police are investigating a nighttime explosion at a church in suburban Los Angeles

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Police were called to the First Works Baptist Church in El Monte around 1:00 AM, where they discovered that the walls of the church had been destroyed and that smoke was coming from the church window, which appeared to have been smashed.

“We realized that the windows hadn’t been smashed, that they had actually been blown away by some explosion,” said Lieutenant Christopher Cano of the El Monte Police Department.

The FBI field office in Los Angeles said agents along with El Monte Police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to what it called an “IED attack” on the church. IED is an acronym for improvised explosive device.

“Bomb engineers and an Evidence Response team process the damage site. There are no injuries,” the field office said in a statement.

The field office said a joint investigation is underway and anyone with information about the incident should contact the Los Angeles field office.

Police did not provide further details and church representatives were not readily available for comment.

The church has been the center of some local protests over the condemnation of same-sex relationships, according to CNN subsidiary KCAL.
The Church is described on its website as an “independent, fundamental” Baptist Church, containing a statement of doctrine that lists the beliefs of the Church. One of the beliefs mentioned is, “We believe that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination that God punishes with the death penalty.”
A protest planned Sunday by a group called Keep El Monte Friendly has been canceled, according to the group’s Facebook page.

El Monte is located about 15 miles east of Los Angeles.

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