Fire marshal: Politics unlikely motive in ‘Vote Trump’ arson

This is a Mississippi Department of Public Safety provided undated state driver's license photograph of Andrew McClinton, of Leland, Miss., who was arrested by the Greenville Police Department, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016 in Greenville , Miss., in connection with the Nov. 1, 2016 fire at Greenville's Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church. McClinton, 45, has been charged with one count of first degree arson of a place of worship and is being held in the Washington County Detention Center, pending an initial appearance before the municipal court. (Mississippi Department of Public Safety via AP,) This is a Mississippi Department of Public Safety provided undated state driver's license photograph of Andrew McClinton, of Leland, Miss., who was arrested by the Greenville Police Department, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016 in Greenville , Miss., in connection with the Nov. 1, 2016 fire at Greenville's Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church. McClinton, 45, has been charged with one count of first degree arson of a place of worship and is being held in the Washington County Detention Center, pending an initial appearance before the municipal court. (Mississippi Department of Public Safety via AP,)

By Associated Press December 22, 2016 3 min read

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi fire marshal says investigators don’t see politics as the motivation for the burning of an African-American church that was also spray-painted with the words “Vote Trump” a week before the presidential election.

But Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, who is also state fire marshal, says there are signs the vandalism may have been done to appear that way.

A man who is a member of the church and has a prior criminal record was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree arson of a place of worship. Andrew McClinton, 45, of Leland, Mississippi, is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Thursday in Greenville – the city where Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was burned and vandalized Nov. 1.

Officials have not revealed a possible motive.

“We do not believe it was politically motivated. There may have been some efforts to make it appear politically motivated,” Chaney told The Associated Press.