This is a Mississippi Department of Public Safety provided undated state driver's license photograph of Andrew McClinton, of Leland, Miss., who was arrested by the Greenville Police Department, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016 in Greenville , Miss., in connection with the Nov. 1, 2016 fire at Greenville's Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church. McClinton, 45, has been charged with one count of first degree arson of a place of worship and is being held in the Washington County Detention Center, pending an initial appearance before the municipal court. (Mississippi Department of Public Safety via AP,)
December 21, 2016 - 12:16 PM
JACKSON, Miss. - The Latest on an arrest in a Mississippi church burning (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
The bishop of an African-American church Mississippi that was burned and spray-painted with the words "Vote Trump" says the man arrested in the case is a member of the church.
Police in Greenville on Wednesday arrested 45-year-old Andrew McClinton of Leland, Mississippi, and charged him with first degree arson of a place of worship.
Bishop Clarence Green of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church tells The Associated Press that McClinton is a member of the church.
Green says he did not know about the arrest until AP called him.
The church was burned and vandalized Nov. 1, a week before the presidential election.
It was not immediately clear whether McClinton is represented by an attorney.
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2:37 p.m.
Mississippi authorities have arrested a man in the burning of an African-American church that was also spray-painted with the words, "Vote Trump."
Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain says Andrew McClinton of Leland, Mississippi, who is African-American, is charged with first degree arson of a place of worship.
McClinton was arrested Wednesday. Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, was burned and vandalized Nov. 1, a week before the presidential election.
It was not immediately clear whether McClinton is represented by an attorney.
Greenville is a Mississippi River port city of about 32,100 people, and about 78 per cent of its residents are African-American.
After the fire, Hopewell congregants began worshipping in a chapel at predominantly white First Baptist Church of Greenville.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016