
DERIDDER, La. — Authorities have identified a suspect in an attempted arson at First Baptist Church (FBC) DeRidder.
According to a June 1 news release from the DeRidder Police Department, detectives used surveillance footage and other camera images to identify a vehicle and a suspect only to learn he had been booked in another parish jail on unrelated charges not long after the incident at the church.
Church surveillance footage from the early morning hours of May 31 showed a heavy-set, white male drive up in a dark SUV, attempt to set the church on fire and then drive away in the direction from which he’d come.
The church received help when it was unable to use its sanctuary on Sunday, June 1.
“The people of First Baptist DeRidder met at our Associational office while their facility was being investigated as a crime scene,” Beauregard Baptist Associational Mission Strategist Tom Bruce told the Baptist Message. “We prayed for their church, their gospel witness and the perpetrator(s).
“Ultimately we knew that as awful as this was, it could have been so much worse and our situation doesn’t even come close to what the church gathered in other parts of the world endures,” he continued. “We know God will bring good out of what the devil wishes to use to destroy. We prayed that this will ignite a revival in the church and around the state.”
Detectives believe they have enough evidence for an arrest and are confident the individual acted alone. They expect to release a full report once the arrest is made, the news release said.
“The church is grateful that the suspect is in custody,” FBC DeRidder Administrative Pastor Steve Thomas told the Baptist Message. “It is an answer to prayer that this took place without any other incidents happening.
“The church has also prayerfully committed itself to move forward without fear of any future copycat attacks,” he added. “We have all agreed to not only be thankful for answered prayer of God’s protection, but also to pray for the suspect in custody to come to experience a personal relationship with Christ. It is our prayer that God will use this moment in the history of the church, to challenge each individual member to stand fast when faced with threats of what and/or in who or what we believe.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Compiled from Baptist Message reports.)