FBI: Clinic blaze intentionally set

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, Mo., was intentionally set and is being investigated as a possible hate crime, the FBI said in a statement Tuesday.

The agency also said it is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the Sunday fire.

The FBI said surveillance video shows a person wearing dark clothing entering the Planned Parenthood-Columbia Health Center about 4:05 a.m. Sunday. When that person later walked out of the clinic, smoke could be seen issuing from the building, according to the agency.

No one was inside the building when the fire was reported. The building’s sprinkler system extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived. Firefighters told police that the fire was “suspicious in nature,” Columbia police said.

Federal civil-rights crimes investigated by the FBI include violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it a crime to intentionally damage or destroy the property of a facility because it provides reproductive health services.

The clinic remained closed Tuesday. Dr. Brandon Hill, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Monday that the building sustained limited damage and the clinic will reopen it as soon as possible.

The Columbia clinic does not currently provide abortions.