Authorities are looking into whether an arson at a predominantly black church Wednesday morning in Charlotte, North Carolina was a hate crime, local TV station WBTV reported.
The fire at Briar Creek Road Baptist Church came a week after gunman killed nine parishioners at a historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect, Dylann Roof, a white, 21-year-old with apparent white supremacist leanings, was charged with nine counts of murder and is being held without bond.
The Charlotte Fire Department ruled that the blaze, which did $250,000 worth of damage, was an arson, according to the news station. The department was also investigating whether the fire was a hate crime.
The pastor of the church told WBTV that he hopes the fire doesn’t turn out to be racially motivated.
“We are still talking about this same issue and this is 2015,” the Rev. Mannix Kinsey said. “We all have to consider what else do we need to do to actually be able to work together.”
