Police Seek Motive in Shop Fire : Van Nuys: Damage to the kosher meat store, where swastikas were found, appears to be arson-caused. But investigators are unsure if it was a hate crime.

Swastikas were painted on a kosher meat shop in Van Nuys before it burst into flame with a neighborhood-jolting roar Monday, apparently set afire by an arsonist, authorities said. But police said it was unclear whether bigotry was the motive.

“We’re not sure if it’s a hate crime or not,” Los Angeles Police Detective John Bagnall said. “We’re tip-toeing on this one.”

Police Lt. Harvie Eubank said arson investigators indicated that there was no sign of forced entry and that if the fire was set, the arsonist apparently got in with a key. He said the fire appeared to be arson because the strong smell of gasoline lingered hours after the blaze.

Arson investigators for the Fire Department did not return phone calls.

A spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the Jewish watchdog group that often publicly condemns hate crimes, was also cautious, despite the fact that the blaze involved no other business on the block, broke out on Hitler’s birthday and occurred during the weeklong period of Passover, a Jewish holiday.

“We cannot say with certainty it is a hate crime and are waiting for the results of the police investigation,” said Mary Krasn, the Anti-Defamation League’s assistant director for the Los Angeles area.

The blaze at Leon’s Kosher Meat & Poultry shop, 13650 Burbank Blvd., caused an estimated $55,000 in damage, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Fire Department. The fire, reported shortly after 1 a.m., was extinguished in about 20 minutes, he said.

After the fire was out, investigators found two swastikas painted on doors of meat lockers inside the market, Bagnall and others said.

Harvey Schechter, a former Anti-Defamation League director who lives nearby, suggested that whoever painted the swastikas was ignorant of Nazi symbols because they were incorrectly drawn. “It suggests to me it was some young people who were not too knowledgeable other than that they had a hatred for Jews,” Schechter said.

He also speculated that whoever was responsible had to be familiar with the market because “it’s not like a huge temple on the corner. This is a little meat market, a tiny little store that caters to the Orthodox in the area.”

Several witnesses said a loud explosion preceded the flames and sounded like a car crash because of the shattering of glass.

“I thought a car hit another car at full speed,” said John Brenner, a chef who was having a drink at the Robin Hood Pub, three doors down from Leon’s, when the fire erupted.

“Then I went outside and glass had blown all the way across the street; fire was coming out the roof and the back door had blown off by maybe 15 feet,” Brenner said. “It was a humongous explosion.”

Free-lance artist Mary Martinez, who lives across the street, said she was awakened by the crash of glass and also initially assumed that it was a car wreck.

Brian Money, who owns the Paradise Ranch Market next to Leon’s, said the force of the blast knocked some merchandise off his shelves. But the small gourmet-oriented market escaped damage as did other businesses on the block.

Police declined to identify the meat market’s operator or the owner of the building.

Money said the meat market was run by a new operator, who took over about 1 1/2 years ago from a butcher who had run it for many years. He and Brenner said the present operator, whom they could not identify, had closed the store for the holiday and gone out of town.

The Anti-Defamation League recently worked with police to set up a task force of officers and civilians in the San Fernando Valley to help victims of hate crimes. But Deputy Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker, the Valley’s top police official, said he was waiting for further information before he deployed the new group.

“I know there are some questions that are still unresolved,” Kroeker said. He said physical evidence was found at the fire scene that had to be analyzed before investigators could draw conclusions about a motive, but he declined to disclose details.

“It doesn’t mean it’s not” a hate crime, Kroeker added. “It just means that we want to check a little further before we conclude that it is.

“This is one we need to slow down on and make sure we’re on the right track.”