In a matter of days, three historic, mostly black churches in one Louisiana parish have gone up in flames — and police have identified “suspicious elements” at the scenes.
According to a New York Times report from late last week, the fires all happened within the past two weeks, but the police have not yet found the common denominator among the burns nor confirmed arson.
Per NBC News, the three churches in St. Landry Parish — St. Mary’s Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church — are all more than 100 years old. A fourth blaze broke out at a church about 200 miles away, but authorities don’t believe it’s related to the first three.
