Probe underway into S.C. black church fire
GREELEYVILLE, S.C. - An investigation has been launched into a fire that destroyed a black church that 20 years ago was a target of the Ku Klux Klan, officials said Wednesday.
The fire - reported about 9 p.m. Tuesday as storms moved through the area - occurred as federal authorities also investigate a series of fires at black churches in several Southern states. So far, there is no indication the fires are related.
While officials are not ruling out any possibilities, federal sources told CBS News the fire was likely accidental, possibly caused by lightning. The ATF said Wednesday that another fire, at the Fruitland Presbyterian Church near Memphis, Tenn., was accidental and likely caused by lightning.
With the history of KKK arson at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as the recent memory of the deadly shooting at a famous black church in Charleston, many have feared a wider attack on black places of worship.
The Rev. Alice Parson Wright, a pastor at an AME church about 20 miles away, stopped by the scene of the fire Wednesday morning.
"When I got the message last night, my first thought was: 'Not again. Not again. Not again,'" she said. "And then the second thought was: 'I pray this is not arson but an act of God because of the weather.'"
Wright, who has preached at Mount Zion and knows the congregation, said the church won't be defeated. "The way they rebuilt before ... I can't see them doing anything else but rebuilding," she said.
An ATF official told CBS News' Paul Reid that church fires occur throughout the year, so this current string is not an unusual circumstance. For example, there have been at least six fires in Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee between February and May 2015. Even though the fires were intentionally set, there is no indication of race being a motivator.
Greeleyville is a town of about 400 people around 50 miles north of Charleston, where a pastor and eight members of a historic black church were fatally shot June 17 in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.
On Wednesday morning, only the brick walls of the Greeleyville church remained. The roof had collapsed, and the long windows no longer had glass in them. The side of the church facing the rural highway had a white cross that appeared charred.
Investigators walked through the debris, taking pictures and examining the remains of the building. Yellow crime scene tape kept reporters and nearby residents away from the building.
The image of orange flames coming from the same church the KKK burned down in June 1995 brought up painful memories, said Williamsburg County Councilman Eddie Woods Jr., who got out of bed Tuesday to drive to the church after hearing about the fire.
"That was a tough thing to see," Woods said. "It is hurting those people again. But we're going to rebuild."
Two members of the Ku Klux Klan pleaded guilty to starting the 1995 fire and a second blaze at another predominantly black church.