By Chuck Hustmyre
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (Crime Library) — Law enforcement officials announced Wednesday that they are looking for two unidentified white males driving a dark-colored sport utility vehicle in connection with a string of Alabama church fires that authorities now believe were set not to cover burglaries but in what in one federal lawman described as "a direct attack on the churches."
Nine Baptist churches some with predominantly white congregations, some of them black churches — have been destroyed or damaged in four rural Alabama counties since Friday. Authorities at first speculated that the fires all of them apparently arson might have been the work of thieves hoping to use the fires to cover their tracks.
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| Police and ATF agents outside Antioch Baptist Church |
But in several cases the arsonists, who are believed to have kicked in the doors of the remote and rural houses of worship and used some of accelerant to burn them to the ground, left without taking valuable and easily fenced goods like musical instruments and electronic equipment.
The first five blazes occurred within just a couple of hours of each other early Friday morning in Bibb County, located in central Alabama, just south of the state's largest city, Birmingham. Three of the churches—Rehobeth Baptist Church in Randolph, Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, and Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church near Centreville—were completely destroyed. Two more churches, Old Union Baptist Church in Brierfield and Antioch Baptist Church in Antioch, were damaged.
Four days later, on Tuesday morning, four more churches were torched. This time the fires occurred in western Alabama, in three counties stretched along the Mississippi state line. The Morning Star Baptist Church in Greene County and the Galilee Baptist Church in Sumter County were gutted, while the Spring Valley Baptist Church, also in Sumter County, and the Dancy First Baptist Church in Pickens County were damaged.
Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have said that all nine fires are likely the work of the same person or persons.
"We believe that these fires are linked," said Special Agent Austin Banks, a spokesman for ATF. "At this point there are indications that the same people set these fires."
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| ATF Seal |
Those indications include statements from witnesses at two of the churches who described seeing a dark-colored SUV speeding away at the time of the fires. At least one witness described the SUV as a blue or black Nissan Pathfinder.
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