Hunt Launched in Series of Caustic Liquid Attacks

Police are looking for a man who has sprayed caustic liquid on more than 100 cars and at least two people since March in the San Fernando Valley.

In one attack, a 9-year-old girl was struck in the face by a liquid she said was sprayed from a passing van as she waited to cross a street near her home in Canoga Park on March 17. She was not seriously hurt.

About a month later, a 62-year-old Northridge woman reported that she was driving in Northridge, when another motorist pulled alongside her car and hurled a liquid onto her face and shoulder. She sustained minor burns.

The assaults are believed to be part of a rampage that has caused between $50 and $500 damage to each vehicle involved and covers an area from Northridge to Calabasas, Devonshire Division detectives said Wednesday. Most of the incidents have been reported in the last three weeks.

Detectives believe that one man, driving a tan or dirty white, U.S.-made van, is responsible, Lt. Rick Violano said.

Although the liquid is a caustic fluid that eats through or discolors paint and causes skin burns, police have not been able to positively identify it.

“By the time it’s reported to us, the stuff has dried,” Violano said.