Historically black church in Mississippi set ablaze, vandalized with ‘Vote Trump’
A historically black church in Greenville, Mississippi was set on fire and vandalized with graffiti reading “vote Trump” on Tuesday night.
“It is being investigated as a hate crime,” Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons told TPM on Wednesday, calling the incident at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church a “hateful and cowardly act.”
“This is a direct assault on people’s right to freely worship,” Simmons added. “We are going to investigate the matter with all deliberate speed and will not rest until the perpetrator is arrested and prosecuted.”
Simmons said the Greenville Fire and Police Departments, the local district attorney and the Washington County Sheriff’s office, in addition to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Jackson branch of the FBI, were collectively investigating the fire.
No suspect has yet been identified.