Teacher's Home Firebombed in Targeted Attack, Police Say

Clayton County, Georgia, schoolteacher Adreana Swanson has been hospitalized after a firebomb was launched into her bedroom. A second firebomb was also launched into the front room of her house, which detectives said was meant to prevent people from escaping.

Detectives have labeled the August 20 incident an act of arson that is still under investigation. The 22-year-old Swanson is in the ICU with severe burns to her face, neck and both arms, according to The Clayton Crescent news site. Atlanta's WSB reported that although she remains in the ICU, Swanson is past the critical stage of recovery.

Her mother was also in the house and was transported to the hospital as well, according to The Clayton Crescent.

Residents in Swanson's Riverdale neighborhood said they heard loud explosions and then saw the fire. Surveillance footage from a nearby home showed a flash of fire around 2:30 a.m., and a man in white pants, a black shirt and a mask was seen leaving the scene, WSB added.

When emergency services arrived, the home was "fully engulfed" in flames and had smoke "pouring from the windows," according to The Kansas City Star.

A week later, the suspect still hasn't been caught.

"We are working to identify the person of interest in the video," Riverdale Police Department Chief Todd Spivey told Newsweek in an email on August 26. "The victim is still in the hospital."

Riverdale Police Department Detective Kamie McKay told WSB that Swanson could have been targeted.

"It seems to us it was a targeting situation where there was an accelerant that went through the top window and an accelerant that went through the bottom window," McKay said.

Neighbors reported that Swanson was in shock when she escaped the house.

"She was just saying, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God! I cannot believe this is happening,'" a neighbor told WSB.

A police report indicated that a neighbor who spoke with authorities said they saw a man carrying a grocery bag, according to The Kansas City Star. Minutes later, the man is reported to have run from behind a home and continued running out of the neighborhood.

Anyone with information regarding the case is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.

Other Arson Incidents

In late June of this year, a California man holding an infant hostage started an apartment fire. Responders from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District used an ax to cut their way into the bathroom from a neighboring unit, where the father and child were found unconscious and rescued.

A few days later, officials began an arson investigation after a suspect was caught on a security camera throwing what is believed to be a Molotov cocktail at a car, lighting it on fire in DeBary, Florida.

In early July, three Christian churches in Bethesda, Maryland, were set on fire and vandalized over a 24-hour period.