Police: Arsonist Might Have Set Church Fire
Mount Airy, NC — An arsonist might be responsible for the fire that destroyed the interior of a local church.
A fire was started in a bathroom of Closer Walk Baptist Church early Sunday morning, according to Mount Airy Police Detective Tim Hodges. Fire and police arrived about 2:30 a.m. The church is located at 410 Roberts Road in Mount Airy.
Investigators spent Sunday and Monday interviewing "persons of interest," he said.
Someone broke the glass of the back door leading to the pastor’s study, then unlocked the door, said Douglas Cockerham, pastor.
The fire spread through the fellowship hall, where the bathroom was located, then into the sanctuary.
Hodges said the State Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) have been asked to assist with this case. He said the ATF is notified of all church fires.
Gaye and Dwight Jones said they have attended the church for about six years. They’re among the 40 to 45 people who attend each Sunday, Cockerham said.
"It was just like a big family. We enjoyed being here and the fellowship together," Dwight Jones said.
‘I believe it will make us all get closer than we were and I don’t see how we could be much closer," Gaye Jones said.
The Jones’ and Cockerham said they forgive whoever might have set the fire.
"I hate to see them destroying themselves, because with an attitude like that, you’re destroying more than you are this building. You can destroy this building all day, but it’s just like a cancer eating on them," Cockerham said.
He said someone opened his file cabinet, but the only thing that seems to be missing is his briefcase.
Mount Airy Police Lt. Alan Freeman said investigators do not know a possible motive at this point.
Cockerham said two members of the community have offered to help find the church a temporary location. A revival scheduled for next week is still planned, though Cockerham doesn’t know yet where it will be held.
Anyone with information in this case is asked to call the Mount Airy CrimeStoppers at (336)786-4000.
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