Cops Make Arrest in Spate of Church Fires

Louisiana TV station says suspect in custody is a deputy's son
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2019 7:15 AM CDT
Cops Arrest Suspect After 3 Fires at Black Churches
Graves from a cemetery are seen behind the burnt ruins of the Greater Union Baptist Church, one of three that recently burned down in St. Landry Parish, are seen in Opelousas, La., on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Police in Louisiana have made an arrest after suspicious fires at three historic black churches in a single parish, reports WAFB. The fires gutted the churches—all of them more than 100 years old—in St. Landry Parish in March and April. All were empty at the time, and nobody was injured. Details on the arrest will be revealed at a press conference later Thursday, but KATC reports that the person in custody is the 21-year-old son of a deputy in St. Landry Parish. A fourth fire took place around the same time in a different parish, Caddo, and it wasn't immediately clear if that one will be connected to the other three. The Caddo fire damaged a church with mostly white congregants, per CNN. (Texas dealt with a similar problem several years ago.)

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