CNN: Seventh Southern Black Church Burned to the Ground

“We are just minutes from sunrise and we are getting our first look at this church. Just the brick exterior walls and that white cross are all that is left. This church was gutted by flames. The steeple brought down by a huge fire, last night. Fifty firefighters struggled for hours to take the flames down. The ATF is on scene. The FBI will be joining the investigation to determine the cause that has not been determined. They will also look to find out if it's the result of arson or a hate crime. Because, as you mentioned, this congregation has dealt with both before. In June, 20 years ago, 1995, two members of the Ku Klux Klan [KKK] burned the original Mount Zion to the ground; they pleaded guilty and were sent off to prison. President Clinton, back in 1996 attended the rededication of this building and this congregation will now have to rebuild again. It’s important to say, again, that the cause of this fire has not been determined. But I have spoken with the person who lives in this community, lived here his entire life, he fears that this is a repeat of what happened in the '90s. It’s also important to say that this is the seventh black church across the South to be destroyed by fire since the Charleston massacre two weeks ago. The NAACP is now telling black churches to take precautions to prevent something like this from happening to their building. The ATF will be going in once the embers that are still blowing in this church cool off with sniffer dogs to determine what evidence they can collect to determine exactly what happened here. We are expecting a news conference sometime this morning.”