3 crosses at predominantly Black and Latino California church set on fire; police investigating possible hate crime

Officials were working Thursday, July 6 to determine who set three crosses outside a church in Sylmar on fire early that morning in what local and federal law enforcement were treating as a possible hate crime.

By the afternoon, arson investigators with the Los Angeles Fire Department were examining one of the crosses outside Sylmar Christian Fellowship Church at 13901 Polk Street.

The investigators had taken the cross to cut a small sample from the charred wood. They wiped the same cross with a solution and took a sample from the residue.  And they took soil samples from around the base of the crosses — all in an effort to determine how they were set on fire.

Nearby, Pierre Howard, the church’s pastor for the last 13 years, was adamant the crosses would stay, charred and damaged as they were.

“(They) have been through something,” Howard said. “They got a story to tell.”

Police and firefighters were called to the church at around 5 a.m. on Thursday. When they arrived, the crosses had clearly been burned but were no longer on fire.

In a statement, LAFD said “only smoldering wood remained.”

Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene Thursday as part of a task force dedicated to investigating crimes against local churches.

Howard told reporters Thursday that the church has security cameras, but it was not clear whether police had obtained any footage of a suspect. LAPD confirmed their detectives were investigating the cross burning as a potential hate crime.

The Sylmar Christian Fellowship Church is a predominantly Black and Latino church founded in 2004.

Howard said he hoped whoever burned the crosses was not targeting his church out of hate. He said the church welcomes people of all races.

“We don’t preach a message of hate. Everyone’s welcome,” he said.

Minister Chaz Harvey, a former pastor for the church, said he prayed at the scene Thursday after hearing about the fire.

“This is still my home church,” Harvey said. “I still love this church. Pray for the church every day. And the people in it are my friends, as well as my family.”

Howard said he had no ill will toward whoever set the crosses on fire.

“I forgive them,” Howard said. “I have to.”