ATF: Two white men believed to be Alabama church arsonists

<p>A federal investigator said Sunday that two white men in their 20s or 30s are believed to be responsible for a rash of rural Alabama church fires in recent days, with a 10th church heavily damaged by flames Saturday.</p><p>Eric Kehn, a spokesman for the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency, said the fire at Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in Lamar County broke out Saturday afternoon and no determination had been made on whether it was arson.</p><p>He said the two white men are being sought for arsons that destroyed or damaged five rural Bibb County churches in the early hours of Feb. 2, along with the four that erupted in west Alabama early Feb. 5 in which arson is suspected. The church that burned in Lamar County is near Sulligent in west Alabama.</p><p>Investigators have said they don't know a motive, but there is no racial pattern. Five of the churches had white congregations and five black. All were Baptist, the dominant faith in the region, and mostly in isolated country settings.</p><p>Kehn said investigators don't have any names or specific people who are suspects in the arsons. But based on leads developed, witness accounts and the assessments made by behavioral profilers, he said they are looking for two white men who stick close to each other.</p><p>"They're not youths or teens. It's probably someone in their 20s or 30s. We believe they're pretty much inseparable. They're something like bosom buddies," he said.</p><p>He said investigators believe they live nearer Bibb County, just south of Birmingham, than the west Alabama counties.</p><p>Jim Cavanaugh, the ATF regional director, said Sunday a witness reported seeing a dark sport-utility vehicle near the Lamar County church around the time the fire started. A dark SUV was seen by witnesses at earlier fires, but Cavanaugh said investigators are not looking for that type vehicle alone.</p><p>"We do have at least two players, and they probably have at least two vehicles," he said.</p><p>He also said it's not "set in concrete" that the arsonists probably live near Bibb County, where the first fires occurred. But, he said, "the past behavior of a lot of fire setters ... shows those first fires are closer to where they live."</p><p>Authorities said the Lamar County church fire occurred about 4:20 p.m., the first of the 10 in a 10-day span that was not set in the hours before dawn.</p><p>Cavanaugh said it appears the fire started around the front porch, "but we don't know if there are other places, too."</p><p>A number of the nine other church fires appeared to have been set near the altar in the sanctuary.</p>

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