Concerning VIolence
Decolonizer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...na-was-deliberately-set-ablaze-officials-say/
June 25 at 3:05 AM
A fire that engulfed a small, predominantly black church in Charlotte was set on purpose, local officials said Wednesday. Now they are trying to determine whether the act of arson was a hate crime.
“Shock. Disbelief,” co-Pastor Rhonda Kinsey told Time Warner Cable News. “You hear about it, but you never imagine you would have a fire at your church.”
The 911 call came in just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday, an urgent report from a resident of a nearby apartment complex.
“Briar Creek Road, the Baptist Church at Briar Creek Road … it’s on fire,” the caller said. “It’s really big.”
Within half an hour, more than 75 firefighters had responded to the three-alarm blaze. Flames leaped through the roof of the church complex’s central building, and smoke billowed into the darkness. Coupled with the already feverish temperatures of a North Carolina summer, the heat from the fire was overpowering.
It took over an hour to get the blaze under control — by then it had caused more than $250,000 worth of damage and completely demolished the church’s main building, which housed classrooms. No civilians were hurt, though two firefighters suffered mild heat-related injuries, according to Charlotte Fire Department Public Information Manager Cynthia Robbins Shah-Khan.
With the flames put out and the church reduced to a smoke-stained wreck, investigators determined around midday Wednesday that the fire had been intentionally set. What’s not clear is why.
According to Shah-Khan, a hate crime is one of the possible explanations, though it’s not the only one.
...
June 25 at 3:05 AM
A fire that engulfed a small, predominantly black church in Charlotte was set on purpose, local officials said Wednesday. Now they are trying to determine whether the act of arson was a hate crime.
“Shock. Disbelief,” co-Pastor Rhonda Kinsey told Time Warner Cable News. “You hear about it, but you never imagine you would have a fire at your church.”
The 911 call came in just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday, an urgent report from a resident of a nearby apartment complex.
“Briar Creek Road, the Baptist Church at Briar Creek Road … it’s on fire,” the caller said. “It’s really big.”
Within half an hour, more than 75 firefighters had responded to the three-alarm blaze. Flames leaped through the roof of the church complex’s central building, and smoke billowed into the darkness. Coupled with the already feverish temperatures of a North Carolina summer, the heat from the fire was overpowering.
It took over an hour to get the blaze under control — by then it had caused more than $250,000 worth of damage and completely demolished the church’s main building, which housed classrooms. No civilians were hurt, though two firefighters suffered mild heat-related injuries, according to Charlotte Fire Department Public Information Manager Cynthia Robbins Shah-Khan.
With the flames put out and the church reduced to a smoke-stained wreck, investigators determined around midday Wednesday that the fire had been intentionally set. What’s not clear is why.
According to Shah-Khan, a hate crime is one of the possible explanations, though it’s not the only one.
...
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