A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the burning of three predominantly black churches in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
The man was identified as Holden Matthews, 21, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who called the blazes a reminder of “a very dark past of intimidation and fear.”
Edwards said he didn’t know the man’s motives.
“I don’t know what was in his heart, but I can say it cannot be justified or rationalized,” Edwards told reporters. “These were evil acts.”
Three fires within a span of 10 days was considered suspicious from the start of the investigation, said Butch Browning, Louisiana state fire marshal. The churches — St. Mary Baptist in Port Barre, Greater Union Baptist in Opelousas and Mount Pleasant Baptist south of Opelousas — are historically black congregations in the same parish, all more than 100 years old.
They burned on March 26, April 2 and April 4, respectively.
“We believe these three fires are suspicious,” Louisiana State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said before the arrest, according to CNN. “We are falling short of talking about what caused the fires, falling short of saying they are related, however cognizant that there is a problem and no coincidence that there are three fires.”
Area law enforcement have upped their patrols, and some members of other churches in the area are sleeping in their church buildings to ward off any would-be arsonists.
It’s reminiscent of the string of church burnings in Alabama in 2006 when many church members did the same thing after five Bibb County churches were burned in one night, then four more churches four days later.
Three college students served time for those fires and have now been released. There was no racial motivation for those arsons.
Pastor Freddie Jack, the Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association president, told CNN that it was too soon to tell if the recent Louisiana fires were racially motivated or not. The investigators and churches “need the facts” first, he said.
“I can’t say for one reason or another that the actual burning was a racist act or a hate crime until we can determine who caused them, who’s behind them,” Jack said. (Grace Thornton)
EDITOR’S NOTE–This story was updated April 12, 2019, at 5:31 p.m. to report the arrest of a suspect in the church arsons.
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