Fire at Catholic Church in Boyle Heights Investigated as Suspicious After Vandalism Is Found

ktla ^ | 01/25/2019

[BenLurkin]

The worship area itself was not damaged and no injuries were reported, officials said.

After the flames were knocked down, firefighters discovered vandalism on both the interior and exterior, including to some statues that surround the structure's exterior.

Arson detectives are “looking at certainly the vandalism that took place, the fire spread, that it was not occupied at the time, and other things,” Scott told KTLA.

The House of Worship Task Force — which includes LAFD, the L.A. Police Department, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — was responding to sift through debris, look at burn patterns and speak with witnesses, Scott said.

...

Authorities are still searching for those responsible for setting fire to a 129-year-old church in Pasadena earlier this month.

Vandalism was also involved in that incidence, which occurred at an Episcopal church, according to the Los Angeles Times. The graffiti spray-painted on that church's sidewalk can be further connected to similar markings left at a San Fernando church in November 2016, the newspaper reported.

Last February, West Covina police opened a felony hate crime investigation after a church there was vandalized with graffiti on its walls, statues and pavement.

[HighSierra5]

They didn’t say what the graffiti said. Most likely some anti Christian freaks. If it was anti Latino you’d have a dragnet out for a gringo.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Whenever I had to be involved with LAPD during my 15 years there, their detectives didn’t play their cards very close to the vest. Still the same problem! They shouldn’t be saying the graffiti might be connected, it’s probably their only freaking clue.

[mosesdapoet]

Every week there’s a report of an attack on a Californoian Catholic church showing up here in FR’s .