Vandals Smash Glass, Ransack Some Offices in Times Building

The Los Angeles Times building was among several downtown structures damaged by rampaging vandals Wednesday night, several hours after verdicts in the King case.

Most employees on the ground level of the historic structure at 1st and Spring streets had gone home by the time of the 9 p.m. attack. Two employees were evacuated from the first floor, but dozens of reporters and editors continued to work in the third-floor newsroom.

No one was injured.

Executive Editor Shelby Coffey III estimated that damage to the building would run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The vandals were part of a crowd of about 200 that had first formed in front of Parker Center, the police headquarters, two blocks away. After being repelled by police there, the crowd surged through downtown, smashing windows, setting trees afire and uprooting newsstands.

In front of the Times, several young men threw newsstands into plate-glass windows, shattering 17 in all. The missiles left broken glass and equipment around the offices of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, which occupies much of the first floor.

The mob then ransacked the offices of Times Special Events, which organizes promotional and charitable events for the newspaper.

The crowd left the Times building within 10 minutes and went on to vandalize other downtown buildings. But marauders returned an hour later and pelted windows with more debris.