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St. Louis Church Fires Increase to Seven in Last Two Weeks

Mahesh Kularatne/Flickr

  Police said another church property was set on fire in the St. Louis area, the seventh such blaze in two weeks.

Police Chief Sam Dotson said someone used an accelerant early Thursday to ignite the doors of the rectory at the downtown Shrine of St. Joseph Church.

Authorities said the church was unoccupied and that no one was injured in the blaze.

Dotson said the churches damaged during the suspicious fires since Oct. 8 vary denominationally and until early Thursday were within a few miles of each other and in largely black neighborhoods.

The latest blaze involved a church outside the radius of the previous fires, and local media outlets said Shrine of St. Joseph Church's congregation is largely white.

Federal investigators are assisting in the probe.