3 black churches burned in 10 days in a single parish in Louisiana

ATLANTA – Three historically black churches burned in less than two weeks in a parish in southern Louisiana, where officials said they found "suspicious elements" in each case. Officials did not rule out the possibility of arson and the possibility of fire being linked.

"It is clear that something is happening in this community," Fire Marshall H. Browning said in a statement released on Thursday. "That's why it's imperative that the citizens of this community participate in our efforts to understand what it is."

The three fires occurred on March 26 and 26, Tuesday and Thursday, in the parish of St. Landry, north of Lafayette. A fourth fire, a small fire that was said to have been "intentionally unleashed," was reported Sunday in a mostly black church in Caddo Parish, about a three-hour drive north.

"But since we did not connect the three to St. Landry, we did not connect the one in Caddo," Ashley Rodrigue, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Fire Marshal Office of State Fire Marshal, said Friday.

Local officials said that they were still investigating fires and did not specify whether they knew suspects, a motive or whether racism was an element.

"There is certainly something in common, and we do not know if it leads to a person or to groups or groups," Browning said at a press conference Thursday.

The F.B.I. and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are involved in the investigation, said Jeff Nowakowski, spokesperson for A.T.F. in New Orleans.

Reverend Gerald Toussaint, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana, was going to work Thursday morning around 4:45 pm when his wife called him to tell him that she had seen on social media that their church was in flames.

Mr. Toussaint was aware of two other fires that had been lit in nearby places of worship, the St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre and the Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas. He rushed to the scene.

The church, which was founded in the 19th century, had undergone a major reshuffle two years ago. Now he's almost gone, he said, with the exception of a brick wall and a corridor in front.

"I'm trying to figure out who did it, why did they do it, does it have anything to do with me," said Toussaint, who drives trucks for a living. "I do not know anything about that."

He also stated that he did not wish to speculate, for fear of angering potential arsonists or provoking imitation crimes.

The Parish of St. Landry is a rural area dotted with lobster ponds and bayous in the heart of Cajun and Creole country. It is 56% white and 41% black. Mr. Toussaint said relations between black and white residents were generally good.

Since the 1950s, black churches in the South have been the target of numerous racist attacks, ranging from arson, bombing and armed assaults. In 2015, a white supremacist shot dead nine people during a Bible study in an African American church in Charleston, S.C.

In 2006, a series of criminal fires in Alabama churches, some of which predominantly white, others predominantly black, turned out to be the work of three university students that those responsible characterized as a "joke" that had escaped all control.