Vallejo City Hall closes for repairs after fire set inside office

Vallejo City Hall will be closed until Thursday after a fire was set in a first-floor office there overnight amid widespread looting and vandalism that followed demonstrations over a police killing in Minneapolis last week, city officials said Tuesday.

Several local officials gathered Tuesday afternoon to discuss the chaotic last few nights in Vallejo and across the Bay Area following the death of unarmed black man George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis last week.

A Vallejo police officer-involved shooting was among the overnight chaos, but city officials said more details about that case would be released at a separate briefing on Wednesday.

The fire at City Hall occurred in a human resources office after a suspect or suspects broke in, City Manager Greg Nyhoff said. The building’s water sprinklers helped extinguish it, but Nyhoff said there is “significant damage” on the first floor that will require extensive cleanup in the next couple days.

Looting, vandalism and other crimes like armed carjacking went on for hours across Vallejo on Monday night, police Chief Shawny Williams said.

Williams said:

“This was a coordinated attack.”

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan said the city has respected peaceful demonstrations that have taken place following Floyd’s death, but he added:

“(S)adly much of this has been overshadowed by lawless individuals.”

Sampayan asked for residents to follow Vallejo’s curfew, which like many other cities around the Bay Area will begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

He said:

“These are very challenging times for our city, our region, our nation.”

Nyhoff said the city may implement road closures and additional measures if more looting and vandalism occurs this week in Vallejo.