Official: Fire at South Carolina black church wasn't arson

GREELEYVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Preliminary indications suggest arson was not the cause of a fire that destroyed a black church targeted by the Ku Klux Klan 20 years ago, a federal law enforcement official said today.

Local and regional officials said at a news conference that they haven't ruled out any potential causes in the fire. But the federal official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly, told The Associated Press that preliminary indications show the fire at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville was not intentionally set and was not arson.

The fire is still under investigation, all the officials said.

Greeleyville is a town of about 400 people around 50 miles north of Charleston, where a pastor and eight members of a historic black church were fatally shot June 17 in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime. Dylann Roof, who is white, has been charged.

The fire – reported about 9 p.m. Tuesday as storms moved through the area – occurred as federal authorities also investigate a series of fires at black churches in several Southern states. So far, there is no indication the fires are related.