Firebombed home/cars in Oceanside. (Photo: Garvin Walsh with permission)
Political Motives Suspected in Firebombing of Oceanside Home/Cars
It’s almost a daily thing for people to yell ‘Eff Trump’ or make obscene gestures when they drive by
By Garvin Walsh, July 16, 2025 12:30 pm
An Oceanside family and their neighbors had their early morning sleep shattered by fire and chaos on Sunday, July 13. At approximately 2:30 a.m., longtime resident Rick Felkins and his family awoke to find two of their vehicles engulfed in flames in their driveway.
Felkins’ wife, adult son, and two young grandchildren were also in the home at the time. One of the children, who is recovering from a broken femur and confined to a full leg cast, had to be evacuated in what was described as a “difficult and painful maneuver.”
The situation was especially dangerous because a third vehicle with a full tank of gasoline was parked immediately adjacent to the two burning vehicles. Additional flammable materials, including gasoline containers, were stored in the home’s attached garage.
Thanks to the swift response of the Oceanside Fire Department, the fire was contained before it could spread to the residence. No injuries were reported. Two vehicles—a truck and an SUV—were destroyed, while two others sustained less severe damage.
Felkins believes the fire was deliberately set. While the Oceanside Fire Department has not yet released its official report, Felkins said authorities at the scene indicated that physical evidence suggested an incendiary device containing an accelerant had been placed between the two cars. “In other words,” Felkins said, “a firebomb.”
A lifelong Oceanside resident, Felkins suspects the attack was politically motivated. He stated that while he is not involved in any personal disputes or illegal activity, he has been outspoken about his political views. His home, located on a corner lot visible from heavily traveled roads, has frequently displayed conservative-themed signs and flags. Just before the incident, a “Thank You Elon Musk” flag was posted in his yard. In the past, he has displayed pro-Trump signs and the Gadsden Flag (“Don’t Tread on Me”), some of which he said were recently stolen during the night.
According to Felkins, hostile reactions from passersby have been common. “It’s almost a daily thing for people to yell ‘Eff Trump’ or make obscene gestures when they drive by,” he said.
Felkins expressed deep concern that the apparent retaliation against his political speech has escalated to violence. “It’s frightening,” he said. “My family’s safety is my top priority, and this has shaken us.”
As of this writing, the Oceanside Fire Department has not released its final investigative report, but the fire is being treated as suspicious and of undetermined origin. The Oceanside Police Department has opened a case and is investigating the incident as suspected arson.
Felkins is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator(s). Asked about his motivation to solve the crime, Felkins, echoing the fictional Bobby Lee Swagger, explained, “I don’t think you understand, they destroyed my favorite truck.”
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Hopefully the family has a Ring camera and can provide evidence to law enforcement for prosecution…
Gotta be judicious in California, because some of these idiots are EASILY “triggered” and they’re also cowards who do shtuff like this at 2:30 in the morning….
Good point, CD9. Let’s hope.
This is a beyond-horrifying incident. I remember the story of the family being harassed “almost daily” for putting patriotic displays out. One woman would scream at them from across the street as she daily walked her dog. Probably the same people; although if there were thousands of such harassment incidents happening in southern California as we speak it wouldn’t surprise me.
Freedom of speech…only if you are a lefty.
The right side lets you fly your flag, post your bumper sticker, etc and we just think you’re wrong.
If the right side does those things, the car gets keyed, the windows broke, the car set on fire.
We mostly keep our public opinions to ourselves.
“Be Prepared”
You can’t have a rational discussion with the left. They shout you down, call you names, try to cancel you from society, try to deprive you of an income, terrorize your family and will burn your house down with you in it. That’s what Lenin’s bolsheviks did, as well as Hitler’s brownshirts and Mao’s Red Guard. During the depression, American communist faction aligned with the soviet Comintern tried to get a race war started in the south. It never got this far, but the tactic of setting everything on fire was in the bag of tricks because it is so terrifying.
The right wing IS the current day brown shirts. Honestly, did any Democratic administration ever build a concentration camp? This act was wrong, no excuse, but maybe they should have re-thought what so-called patriotism is. Maybe they should have been a bit more educated about the last 50 years of Fox propaganda.
Oceanside is a leftist Democrat sh*thole. No surprise there. Democrats are children in an adult body.
Growing up near some small towns with some Barney Fife or worse, you learned where the speed traps were and watched it or avoided the area.
This guy reminds me of the bicycle “activists” who blocked streets often in urban rush hours, and shoot their mouth off in the small towns where it might get you “accidentally” dead.
After years of building the bike paths and country commuter roads guys like him still would try to block semi trucks on highways “because I have rights”.
That is a hell of an epitaph. And maybe you took your family out with you as well.
The semi is fine after wiping off the bumper.. just another fly.
Once a driver/arsonist is apprehended and convicted then released from prison, their license to operate a motor vehicle should be suspended for ten years.
The State DNC will see to it that counter-revolutionaries like this will be similarly dealt with. SAVING DEMOCRACY means resorting to violence against your opponents, right? We can thank our Education System for a lot of this, turning out anti-Americans.
Anti-Fascism is NOT anti-Americanism. My father was a US Army soldier in WWII, who took part in the liberation of Belgium and France from Hitler’s Nazis. They were fascists. The Republican Project 2025 is based squarely on Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Concentration camps. “Papers please.” After 50 years of dumbing down, it’s happening all over again. We on the left warned everyone, but you didn’t listen. Fox News told you how wonderful the new regime was, and how to hate everyone not on board. So go ahead, complain. I won’t moderate myself at all.
If that’s what you think happens in our education system, you obviously have not attended educational institutions. During my many years in educational systems, I was never taught to hate America. I was taught how to evaluate information, how to do good research and use various learning tools. If you study the history of our country, you’ll see that we did many terrible things, but fortunately there were people who resisted and did good things such as fighting for civil rights and equal rights.
There was no “anti-America” being taught at all. In the lower grades we had to salute the flag every morning. That, to me, felt like indoctrination. I’m sure this will get a lot a hate reactions from people. There’s just something about being directed to take some action in unison because some authority tells a group to do it, that doesn’t feel good. It smelled a little like a dictatorship. In one high school class we had to all call out in unison “Good morning, Mr. Bishop” when the teacher entered the room. I didn’t feel like saying good morning in unison, so he came over and took me by the face and lectured me.