St Louis police have confirmed that six fires at churches in predominately black neighborhoods near Ferguson occurring over just 10 days have been classified as arson. There have been no injuries and officials don’t yet have a suspect.

“It is arson,” St. Louis Fire Captain Garon Mosby told media outlets, according to the Associated Press. “These [fires] are being intentionally set.”
Mosby said the possibility of a hate crime for religious or racial reasons “is part of the dynamic” in an ongoing joint investigation currently being conducted by the St. Louis Regional Bomb Unit and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The ATF has jurisdiction over fires at all houses of worship.
All the fires took place in predominately black neighborhoods within a three-mile radius of Ferguson, and all were lit at the front doors of the churches.

 

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