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:
Trump may not have lit the match that burned a Black Church in Mississippi but he sure as Hell provided the Fuel! Trump Is A Racist! pic.twitter.com/hkUUYAkHij
— jeff.yankee@ballpark (@ibelieveinusa) November 3, 2016
A note of what could come with Trump as President: Black Mississippi Church Burned And Vandalized With ‘Vote Trump’ https://t.co/Vhm2NJaiFt
— Maggie May Ethridge (@fluxcapacitor74) November 2, 2016
This thing keeps getting more and more terrifying: ‘Vote Trump’ painted on black church set ablaze in Mississippihttps://t.co/Y45IXyjglu
— Johannah May Black (@johannamayblack) November 2, 2016
He’ll have it removed; won’t pay for it claiming not good job. OTOH Mississippi church burned by #racist #trump supporters may never recover https://t.co/QpXl5Z8WQG
— Susan Beu (@Susanbeu23) November 3, 2016
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
