‘We come from a place of love, not hate,’ says pastor of Springfield church allegedly burned by arsonist
Updated 8:43 PM;
SPRINGFIELD Mayor Domenic Sarno recalls surveying the still-smoldering ashes of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church on Dec. 28. He didn’t wonder about too many theories behind the apparent crime.
“I remember immediately thinking: This looks like a hate crime. Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck it’s a duck,” Sarno said on Thursday, hours after a federal hate crimes indictment against Dushko Vulchev was unsealed.
Sarno lauded state, local and federal authorities who investigated the case, which revealed Vulchev’s alleged long-standing hatred of Black people and other racial and ethnic groups.
Springfield Church Starts to Rebuild After Fire Last Year wgbh.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wgbh.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
by Darla Carter | Presbyterian News Service
Flanked by church members, the Rev. Dr. Terlynn L. Curry Avery, pastor at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church, speaks last month following a fire that heavily damaged the Springfield, Massachusetts, church. (Photo by Presbytery of Southern New England)
LOUISVILLE â When Ruling Elder Lisa Baker got to see the inside of her beloved Springfield, Massachusetts church after it was ravaged by fire last week, she couldnât believe what she saw.
The predominantly Black Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church sustained at least $100,000 in damages in a suspicious Dec. 28 blaze that has shaken the church but not the congregationâs resolve.
Fears aired as search continues for cause of Springfield church fire
Updated Dec 31, 2020;
Posted Dec 31, 2020
State Rep. Bud L. Williams (left) and Bishop Talbert Swan II stand in front of the Martin Luther King Presbyterian Church which was badly damaged in a fire on Monday. (Jeanette DeForge/Republican staff)
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SPRINGFIELD As investigators search for the cause of a suspicious fire that heavily damaged the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church on Monday, anxiety continues to grow in the community, especially among members of historically Black churches.
People have been calling local leaders to air concerns about the blaze and the fact they still have no answers about the cause, said state Rep. Bud L. Williams, D-Springfield.