The bombing, which involved an improvised explosive device, broke the windows of the First Works Baptist Church in the Los Angeles County town of El Monte. 

The local news outlet KTLA5 reported that no one was injured but that 14 homes and eight apartments within the vicinity of the church were temporarily evacuated.

“An improvised explosive device was apparently detonated here at the church, causing some damage,” El Monte Police Chief David Reynoso was quoted as saying.

Lt. Christopher Cano told reporters that officers arrived at the scene and found smoke coming from the windows of the building. 

“It appeared that the walls to the church had been vandalized as well as all the windows,” Cano said, according toThe San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “[The windows] appeared at first to be smashed, then we realized that the windows were not smashed, that they had actually blown out from some type of explosion.”

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said that it is too early into the investigation to state if the attack could be considered a “hate crime.”

“As to the question of whether this was a hate crime, that’s always going to be considered among the theories when a house of worship is attacked,” Eimiller said, according to the newspaper. “But it would be premature to confirm any motive at this time, and we are not ruling any other motive out.”

Pastor Bruce Mejia had earlier told police about a threat of arson the church received on social media.

“Some of those within that LGBTQ group caught one of my sermons that are online and they’ve just been harassing ever since, trying to get me out of El Monte, trying to get me and myself and my church out of El Monte by signing a petition,” Mejia said at the time, according to The Press-Telegram. 

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