Police charged a Kansas City man on Wednesday with throwing two Molotov cocktails at the district office of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II on Sept. 11 .  

In a statement issued Thursday, the Missouri Democrat said he will be forever grateful that none of his staff, who were in Washington at the time, were injured “in the senseless attempt recently to destroy my Kansas City office.”  

Eric King, 28, has been charged by U.S. attorneys in a federal criminal complaint that accuses him of using a dangerous instrument to oppose, impede, intimidate and interfere with a federal official engaged in the performance of his official duties. The Associated Press first reported the arrest.  

Police said a window was broken in the attack, but the two alcohol-filled bottles failed to ignite before falling harmlessly outside the building. The paper towels stuffed into the necks of the bottles extinguished while still in the air, according to reports. An affidavit says King was captured throwing a hammer through the window, then lighting the bottles.  

Authorities were investigating a multiple instances of anti-government vandalism committed over Labor Day weekend. King was arrested by the Kansas City Police Department in connection with a separate incident, according to Cleaver’s office.  

“I have devoted my entire adult life to preaching, and hopefully living, the belief that civility supersedes viciousness, and the passion for positive outshines the vehemence of violence,” Cleaver said in a statement thanking law enforcement.  

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