Authorities in Jackson, Miss., arrested Devin McLaurin, who was reportedly nearby when seven structures were set on fire overnight.
A building on the campus of Jackson State University and multiple area churches were among seven structures set on fire early Tuesday by a suspected arsonist. The crime, ahead of Election Day, came as many residents were preparing to cast their votes.
According to The Mississippi Clarion Ledger, the fire department in Jackson, Mississippi, spent most of the day conducting investigations into the seven fires that occurred overnight not far from the HBCU.
Deputies from the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office later arrested Devin McLaurin, who was confirmed to have been nearby when the fires were set.
WAPT News reported that fires broke out at two historic local churches — Greater Bethlehem Temple Church and Epiphany Lutheran Church — and a privacy covering for the baseball field at Jackson State.
According to Arkansas Online, Patrick Armon, assistant chief for the Jackson Fire Department, called the fires a “major occurrence” and said that they don’t typically go to such situations, but about one-third of his department responded. Armon has been in the area for 30 years.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba responded to the idea that the timing of the fires might be tied to Tuesday’s midterm elections, saying “it is too early in the investigation to know what the motive may be,” the Clarion Ledger reported.
No polling places were affected.
Shuwaski Young, a Democratic candidate for Congress from District 3, issued a statement describing the fires as cowardly acts carried out by “terrorists” looking to suppress voters. Despite the “decades-old intimidation tactic,” he encouraged all Mississippians to cast their votes.
“This morning several churches were burned in Jackson, Mississippi on Election Day,” Young’s statement read, The Clarion Ledger reported. “These cowardly actions invoke historical acts of terrorism when people are fighting for their right to vote and live peacefully as Americans and Mississippians. We will not be deterred and will not be intimidated. We will not allow domestic terrorists to suppress our right to vote. … Just go vote.”
Source: HBCU Jackson State, churches set on fire Tuesday; arson suspect arrested
