AUSTIN (KXAN) — A San Antonio man has been sentenced to prison after he threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of the Travis County Democratic Party office in Austin in 2021.

Ryan Faircloth, 31, was sentenced Friday to 6 years in prison. He pled guilty to arson in January.

In addition to prison time, Faircloth was ordered to pay $12,472.84 in restitution and a $5,000 fine.

Faircloth admitted to targeting the political party office “because he opposed positions he believed to be taken by the Democratic Party,” according to the Western District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s office.

Surveillance video from the September 2021 incident shows Faircloth break a window and then throw in some type of incendiary device at the office at East Sixth and Navasota streets in downtown Austin.

According to the Austin Fire Department, Faircloth put a device inside the building’s door, near a stack of papers. Officials said it was then the fire started to be visible, but the incendiary device did not catch fire, just the papers it was near.

  • Broken windows outside Travis Co. Democratic office following possible arson. (KXAN, Nabil Remadna)
  • Broken windows outside Travis Co. Democratic office following possible arson. (KXAN, Nabil Remadna)
  • Broken windows outside Travis Co. Democratic office following possible arson. (KXAN, Nabil Remadna)
    Broken windows outside Travis Co. Democratic office following possible arson. (KXAN, Nabil Remadna)

A good Samaritan was able to extinguish the fire before firefighters arrived.

“Violence in the political process is unacceptable. We all must respect the rule of law” U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff said in a statement. “Those who commit acts of violence or destroy property for a political or ideological agenda will be held accountable for their crimes.”