Democrats said it was a hate crime when someone set a black church on fire in Mississippi. But the suspect who got arrested is black.
Mississippi police arrest suspect in church arson that Democrat called ‘tactic to suppress’ votes
The Mississippi Democrat Congressional candidate said that the incident ‘invoke[d] historical acts of terrorism’
By Adam Sabes
November 11, 2022
The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office says Delvin McLaurin was arrested Tuesday in Terry, Mississippi following a tip from the public. (Hinds County Sheriff’s Office)
Police in Mississippi arrested a 23-year-old old suspect thought to be associated with seven fires across Jackson, with two of them being at churches, in what one Democrat Congressional candidate called an attempt to suppress votes.
Among the two churches set on fire, one of them was destroyed in the fire. All the fires took place around Jackson early Tuesday morning.
Shuwaski Young, a former candidate for Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District, said that the fire was an attempt to suppress votes in the area and said it invokes acts of terrorism.
“This morning several churches were burned in Jackson, Mississippi on Election Day. These cowardly actions invoke historical acts of terrorism when people are fighting for their right to vote and live peacefully as Americans and Missisippians,” Young said. “We will not be deterred and will not be intimidated. We will not allow domestic terrorists to suppress our right to vote. I ask all Mississippians to GO VOTE regardless of this decades old intimidation tactic to suppress our votes today. Just Go VOTE.”
https://twitter.com/shuwaskiyoung/status/1589979730081906690
Beginning on Tuesday at around 2:45 a.m., officials received calls regarding six fires around the city. By 6 a.m., six of the seven fires were put out by firefighters.
Epiphany Lutheran Church, a predominantly Black church in Jackson, was among the churches burnt and was on fire for over four hours.
At Jackson State University, a historically Black school, a fire began in the area surrounding the baseball practice field.
The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office said that Devin McLaurin was arrested in relation to the arson incidents, but didn’t add what his motivation was.
McLaurin is being charged with felony malicious mischief, and is also being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Patrick Armon, assistant fire chief with the Jackson Fire Department said that this is unusual for the area.
“I’ve been here for 30 years. This is a major occurrence,” Armon said. “This is not something we normally go to. We have about a third of our department on sites.”
Lloyd Caston, 73, who is an elder at Epiphany Lutheran Church, said that she woke up to a call at around 4 a.m. stating that the church was on fire.
When Caston arrived to the church, he saw that it was “fully enflamed.” He said that he “was hurt” when he saw the church on fire.
“It destroyed the church and everything in it,” Caston said.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said that no polling locations were impacted by the fires.
“We don’t yet know who or why, but I want to thank the firefighters because they were able to respond to that and still get back to the stations, so that people could set up for voting precincts,” Lumumba said.
Fox News has reached out to Young.
A blue city in a red state doesn’t have any clean water. Whose fault is it?
The city of Jackson is controlled by Democrats.
The state of Mississippi is controlled by Republicans.
Whose fault is it that the city doesn’t have any clean water?
Reuters wrote:
Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely
Jackson, Mississippi, will go without reliable drinking water indefinitely, officials said on Monday, after pumps at the main water treatment plant failed, leading to the emergency distribution of bottled water and tanker trucks for 180,000 people.
The city linked the failure to complications from the flooding of the Pearl River, but Governor Tate Reeves, who declared a state of emergency, said the cause was unknown and that the city-run water treatment plant had been poorly operated and understaffed for years.
In any case the capital city of 150,000 people and 30,000 in surrounding communities could go without running water indefinitely, as officials warned anyone with access to tap water should boil it for three minutes.
Jackson, the state capital, is more than 80% Black or African American, according to U.S. Census data.
“Do not drink the water,” Reeves told a hastily called news conference. “In too many cases, it is raw water from the reservoir being pushed through the pipes.”
A 16-year-old hero from Mississippi named Corion Evans has just saved four people’s lives!
Mississippi teen hailed as hero after helping rescue 3 girls, officer from river
“I was just like, ‘I can’t let none of these folks die.'”
By Meredith Deliso
July 6, 2022
Corion Evans, 16, jumped in to the Pascagoula River to save four people after a car drove off a boat launch on July 3, 2022, in Moss Point, Miss.
A teenager helped rescue three people whose car drove off a boat launch into the Pascagoula River, as well as a police officer who responded to the scene, on July 3, 2022, in Moss Point, Miss.
A 16-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero after he helped rescue four people when a car drove off a boat launch and into a Mississippi river.
The incident happened Sunday at around 2:30 a.m., when the car, which had three teenage girls inside, drove into the Pascagoula River in Moss Point, floated about 20 feet away from shore and started sinking, the Moss Point Police Department said in a statement.
“The driver of that vehicle stated she was following her GPS and did not realize she was going into the water,” police said.
Corion Evans, 16, said he immediately ran over, took off his shoes and shirt and went into the water when he saw the car sinking and heard the three occupants shouting for help.
“I was just like, ‘I can’t let none of these folks die. They need to get out the water,'” Evans, a Pascagoula High School student, told Biloxi, Mississippi, ABC affiliate WLOX. “So, I just started getting them. I wasn’t even thinking about nothing else.”
One of Evans’ friends also jumped in and helped get the girls to the top of their vehicle, according to WLOX.
“I was behind them trying to keep them above water and swim with them at the same time,” Evans told the station.
Along with Moss Point Police Officer Gary Mercer, who responded to the scene, Evans helped bring the three teens to shore.
At one point Mercer was bringing one person to shore “who began panicking and caused him to go under swallowing some water,” police said.
When Mercer started struggling in the water, Evans helped rescue him, too.
“I turned around. I see the police officer. He’s drowning. He’s going underwater, drowning, saying, ‘Help!'” Evans told WLOX. “So, I went over there. I went and I grabbed the police officer and I’m like swimming him back until I feel myself I can walk.”
The officer and three teens were taken to the hospital following the incident and were recovering, WLOX reported.
“The police department and I commend Mr. Evans’s bravery and selflessness he displayed by risking his own safety to help people in danger,” Moss Point Chief Brandon Ashley said in a statement. “If Mr. Evans had not assisted, it could have possibly turned out tragically instead of all occupants rescued safely.”
On Tuesday, Moss Point city officials presented Evans with a certificate of commendation for his heroism in rescuing the four people. They also recognized Mercer for his “bravery in the rescue.”
Evans’ mother expressed relief and spoke proudly of her son in the wake of the rescue.
“I’m glad nothing happened to him while he was trying to save other people’s lives,” Marquita Evans told WLOX. “I was really proud of Corion because he wasn’t just thinking about himself. He was trying to really get all those people out the water.”
Evans told WLOX he has been swimming since he was 3 years old and didn’t hesitate to jump in the river.
“Twenty-five yards out, so it was a lot of swimming. My legs were so tired after,” he told the station. “Anything could’ve been in that water, though. But I wasn’t thinking about it.”
Mississippi police issue $500 tickets to drive-in church service attendees
Mississippi police issue $500 tickets to drive-in church service attendees
April 12, 2020
GREENVILLE, Miss. (WJW) — Police in Mississippi issued $500 tickets to parishioners attending drive-in church services on Wednesday.
In wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Temple Baptist Church began running its services using radio frequencies that can only be heard within a one-block radius of the church, WLBT reports.
On Wednesday, their drive-in church service was shut down by local police.
“The police started coming up and we said, well, we think we’re in our rights. And they started issuing tickets, $500 tickets, it may have been 50 — I mean 20 to 30 tickets. Everybody got one, it wasn’t per car. Me and my wife was both in the car together and both of us got tickets,” longtime parishioner Lee Gordon told the news outlet.
Greenville Mayor Erick Simmons claims the drive-in church services pose health violations.
“You’re there for a 2-hour-period of time, folks want to use the bathroom, or go potty, and the little girls want to go use it. Now folks are in and out and they are facing this invisible giant called COVID-19,” Mayor Simmons reportedly said. “What we’ve been asking for in the state is bold leadership from our state, and partnership. If we have clear direction, we wouldn’t have issues that have evolved across the state.”
Another church in the area, who experienced a similar situation, has filed a lawsuit against the mayor saying his order is ” unconstitutional, illegal and must be withdrawn.”
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 