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OPELOUSAS, La. - An arrest has been made in connection with three fires at historically black churches in a Louisiana parish, according to U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph. At a news conference Thursday morning, Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning Jr. said 21-year-old Holden Matthews had been arrested. He was booked into the St. Landry Parish Jail and charged with three counts of simple arson on religious buildings. Each charge has a maximum sentence of 15 years. The three fires are related and were intentionally set, Browning said. Federal authorities are vetting whether hate was a motive of Holden...

KATC has confirmed with multiple law enforcement sources that one person is in custody in the recent church fires in St. Landry Parish. Sources confirm the suspect in the church arsons is Holden Matthews, 21. He is the son of a St. Landry Parish Deputy. St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz tells KATC that, despite rumors, Matthews’ father did not turn his son in to deputies. Matthews was booked at around 5:30 this evening into the St. Landry Parish jail. We’re told that the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office will be holding a press conference tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Governor...

JACKSON, Miss. — A member of a black church in Mississippi has pleaded guilty to burning the church, which was also spray painted with the slogan “Vote Trump,” a week before the 2016 presidential election. Andrew McClinton, 47, pleaded guilty to arson Thursday, the Delta Democrat-Times reported. His sentencing is set for late April. Investigators said McClinton belonged to Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, which was vandalized and burned. Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, who is also the state fire marshal, told The Associated Press that investigators believe the graffiti was intended as a distraction from some other sort...

Three college students were arrested after allegedly setting fire to the Louisiana dorm room of another student, who is involved in several conservative organizations. Robert Money, 21, and David Shelton, 20, who attend Tulane University, were arrested, along with Naimi Okami, 20, a Brown University student. Police said they were caught on security cameras. Money, Shelton, and Okami were each charged with one count of aggravated arson after being arrested on March 23 and they appeared in court on March 24 before being released on bail. According to The Advocate, they could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted....

MILAN, March 20 (Reuters) - A bus full of school children was set on fire by its driver in the outskirts of Milan on Wednesday in an apparent protest against migrant drownings in the Mediterranean, Italian authorities said. All the children managed to escape unhurt before the bus was engulfed in flames. Police said the driver was an Italian of Senegalese origin. “He shouted ‘Stop the deaths at sea, I’ll carry out a massacre’,” spokesman Marco Palmieri quoted the driver as telling police after his arrest. A video posted on Italian news sites showed the driver ramming the bus into...

Fire guts Paris’ historic St. Sulpice church Fire at the Saint Sulpice Church in Paris as recorded by a passerby Fire has been reported at Paris’ historic St. Sulpice church, built in the 19th Century. According to Le Parisien, firefighters are extinguishing the blaze, which burst through the doors of the 19th Century building. The wooden doors were on fire, and a stained glass window was damaged. The rest of the damage “seems minor,” the daily newspaper said. Dramatic footage shared on social media shows the interior of the church in flames, with smoke billowing up to its arched roof....

A Florida man was arrested after authorities accused him of throwing Molotov cocktails at his impounded car. Police said that the incident occurred when 27-year-old Ayub Mule Abdulrahman went to pay the towing fees after his Nissan Altima was impounded at Almake Auto Shop in Orlando. While Abdulrahman was waiting for the shop's owner, Darnell Maurice Adams, to arrive and release his vehicle, he started throwing burning bottles at his own car, causing it to burst into flames. Adams showed up a few minutes later and was able to extinguish the fire before emergency responders arrived.

DETROIT —When Nikki Joly's Jackson home burned down in 2017, some thought the fire was a hate crime against the transgendered, gay-rights activist who had fought for a local anti-discrimination ordinance. But now, instead of a victim, the 54-year-old is accused of being the perpetrator.

27-year-old Zachariah James Gonzales is charged with arson... The residents said Gonzales' brother was currently in jail and is the boyfriend of the current renter of the B unit. They said Gonzales had become increasingly difficult over his stay there, and would "babble on" about people trying to "get him."... The woman renting the B unit also stated that Gonzales' had been "talking crazy...jibberish."... He told officers he was in the living room with two men cutting up firewood and "talking about sacrificing souls." He told investigators he didn't want any part of that, so he left. He also told...

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Holiday revelers were shocked to see a woman in a hoodie attempt to set the featured Christmas tree on fire at Sundance Square this weekend. She lit a piece of paper, tossed it toward the massive tree then used an accelerant as stunned onlookers watched. Luckily though, “Nothing was actually lit on fire,” said Fort Worth police Sgt. Chris Britt. One witness posted video (before knowing the woman’s gender) of the whole thing on Facebook saying, “Sarah Chretien and I were talking a picture right next to this guy before we realized what on earth he...

Nearly 80 percent of the equipment for staging the December 23 election in DR Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, was destroyed when a fire ripped through a warehouse, as violence flared just 10 days before the vote. The blaze, which officials blamed on arson, was the latest drama of an increasingly tense election campaign ahead of the December 23 election when the country will choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila. Also Thursday, a teenager was shot dead in the central Kasai region as party faithful gathered ahead of a rally by Felix Tshisekedi of the UDPS, one of the leading opposition...

cars on fire on highways ....homes burning.....people trapped all over town best source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6kpUIr4CSw population 26,000

The Wyoming U.S. Attorney's Office has charged a Laramie man with vandalizing and burning the Albany County Republican Party headquarters last month, according to the statement supporting a criminal complaint filed in federal court on Tuesday. Kellen Michael Sorber is charged with one count of using fire to commit a felony, which is punishable by at least five years to 20 years imprisonment, according to the complaint written by an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agent's statement did not say if Sorber had been taken into custody, but the Wyoming U.S. Attorney's Office...

“I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation” Abigail Adams wrote that in 1776. Her words have never seemed more prescient than they do today. Surely, this is a time where many ladies wish...

A Republican Party office in Laramie, Wyoming, caught fire early Thursday morning just days after it opened, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.The fire appears to have been set intentionally, Laramie Police Department spokesman Steve Morgan told TheDCNF.The local police department is cooperating with the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) in the ongoing investigation, Morgan said, adding that authorities have not yet identified a suspect or a motive for the fire.The burnt office is shared by the Albany County Republican Party and the Wyoming College Republicans, who began moving in on Tuesday, less than 48 hours before the...

There’s not a lot of solid information yet, at least not in English, but there are several video clips showing groups of people dressed in all black setting fire to dozens of parked cars in Gothenburg, Sweden. In this clip you can see the people sneaking around the parking lot setting fires: Around 60 vehicles had been vandalised in total, Swedish television reported, with stones also thrown at police by masked men. Three caravans and a truck have also apparently been targeted. Here’s a Swedish site which reports there were attacks at multiple sites which police believe may have been...

Police said they were dealing with fires in Gothenburg, Malmo and Helsingborg Around 60 vehicles were reportedly vandalised with stones thrown at police Emergency services were tackling the fires with no reports yet of any injuries Dozens of cars were set alight and stones thrown at police as gangs of masked youths went rampaging across Sweden on Monday evening.

Arson suspect in Holy Fire appears in court (CNN)The man accused of setting a Southern California fire that has burned more than 19,000 acres appeared in court Friday and said, "It's all a lie!" as a judge read the charges against him. Forrest Gordon Clark, 51, did not enter a plea during the brief appearance in an Orange County courtroom. When the judge explained the process further to him, Clark said, "I comprehend. I do not understand though." He is due back in court August 17 for arraignment and bail review. Clark was charged Thursday with aggravated arson and criminal...

Forrest Clark's Facebook page is filled with posts about miracle cancer cures, Qanon, and supposed secret pedophile rings. … Some of the conspiracies Clark posted about were merely goofy, like the Illuminati, ancient aliens, and Flat Earthism. Most recently, he seemed to have bought into Qanon, which some suspect to be a troll on Boomer conservatives. Meanwhile, others were directly related to forest fires and some did veer into extremist territory. For instance, his Facebook activity suggests he was obsessed with the idea of secret pedophile rings—the same idea that led a man to bring an assault rifle to a...

On Tuesday night, a 51-year-old man who lives in a cabin in Holy Jim Canyon was arrested in connection with the fire. Forrest Gordon Clark was taken into custody of O.C. Sheriff’s deputies after he allegedly sent an email last week which read, “this place will burn,” according to the Orange County Register. Of the 14 cabins in Clark’s area, his is the only one that was not destroyed, the Register reports. He was arrested on two counts of felony arson, one count of felony threat to terrorize and one count of misdemeanor resisting arrest. He was scheduled to appear...