Mississippi Church Torched & Vandalized With Pro-Trump Message

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mississippichurchburned_110316_twitter
(Twitter)

An FBI spokesman says the agency has begun a civil rights investigation of a fire that heavily damaged a black church in Greenville, Mississippi. The perpetrators left a message spray painted on the burned out building “Vote Trump“.

Asked whether it’s being investigated as a hate crime, federal officials say that it’s too early to determine what type of crime it could be; but,  Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons told a news conference Wednesday that he considers the incident a hate crime.

Simmons is describing a fire and message as a “hateful and cowardly act,”  and added that he believes the incident was intended to interfere with worship and intimidate voters.

Meantime, Twitter users reacted to the incident, some blaming the vitriol coming from the Trump campaign #mississippichurch:

 

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican who has been campaigning for Trump, issued a statement saying anyone who burns a place of worship will answer to God and should also answer to “man’s law.” He says he expects whoever did it to be arrested.

Greenville is a city of about 32,000 on the Mississippi River in central Mississippi. About 78 percent of the residents are African-American.

Source: AURN

 

 

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