Authorities in Mississippi’s capital city are on the hunt for a suspected arsonist who set several fires early Tuesday on and near the campus of Jackson State University, a historically Black public college.
At least two of the buildings set ablaze were churches. Another one of the fires broke out on Jackson State University’s baseball field.
According to JFD Assistant Chief Patrick Armon, at least seven locations were set on fire overnight. Here are the locations that we know were set on fire:
- Greater Bethlehem Temple Church
- Epiphany Church at 1230 Isaiah Montgomery
- Baseball Field on JSU Campus
- Gas Station on Terry Road
- Central Street and Dalton
- 1101 Pascagoula Street
- Terry Road and Cherry Street
“I’ve been here for 30 years. This is a major occurrence,” Patrick Armon, assistant fire chief for the Jackson Fire Department, told WAPT-TV. “This is not something we normally go to. We have about a third of our department on sites.”
No injuries were reported. Authorities are searching for one suspect, according to Armon and the Jackson Police Department. They did not provide the person’s name or a suspected motivation behind the fires.
Officials started to receive calls about several fires starting around 2:45 a.m. Officials said six of the seven fires were put out by 6 a.m. One church burned for more than four hours before the fire was extinguished.
With an election Tuesday morning, no polling places were reported to have been impacted by the fires.
Sickening!! The racist people of Mississippi haven’t learned how to be Americans after all these years. Can we simply eject the state from the USA? Watching the state sail off and sink in the Gulf would make everyone feel better.
When will our politicians ever learn that the extreme political strife and verbal assaults by opposing politicians are contributing to violence across the country? It’s only going to get worse. I hope I’m very wrong but I’m beginning to wonder, given the Paul Pelosi attack, if political assassinations are going to become a norm.
Paul attack? Have you read the repeated police report of the event? It’s strange and what we’re being told does not coincide with the report.