The man who allegedly set fire to a black church in Greenville, Mississippi, and spray-painted it with the words “Vote Trump” is a member of the church.
Police arrested Andrew McClinton on Wednesday in conjunction with the arson of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, which was burned and vandalized on Nov. 1, a week before Donald Trump was elected president.
A bishop from Hopewell told the Associated Press that Mr. McClinton is a member of the predominantly black church.
The suspect is charged with first-degree arson of a place of worship.
The side of the 111-year-old church was scrawled with the words “Vote Trump” in white spray-paint, prompting calls for Mr. Trump to denounce the act purportedly perpetrated in his name.
Writing in the Daily Beast in the aftermath of the arson, journalist Justin Glawe criticized Mr. Trump for failing to denounce the act in his own words, even though the Trump campaign released a statement condemning the arson.
“So these are the stakes of this election: a potential president who would not even condemn in his own words terrorism done in his own name,” Mr. Glawe wrote in a piece published on Nov. 6.
Several incidents initially reported as hate crimes carried out by Mr. Trump’s supporters have proven to be false.
Police charged an 18-year-old student in Louisiana for falsely reporting that she was robbed and had her hijab removed from her head by two white men who yelled racial slurs. One of the men was wearing a Trump hat, she told campus police at the University of Louisiana. The student later admitted that the story was “fabricated,” police said.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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