TUCSON, Ariz. — Inside of the Tucson Living Word Church on South 12th Avenue the sanctuary is calm, but that all changed on March 3rd. At around 2:30am Tucson fire crews arrived at the scene and found the church's auxiliary building in flames. Now Pastor Gene Chewning says the church is having a hard time dealing with the loss. The church structure is left with nothing but charred carpet, walls, bibles, chairs and banners. As for the investigation into the cause Pastor Chewning says his insurance company deemed it suspicious.
"It's our auxiliary building my office and my library. I was a missionary for many years there were alot of artifacts and paintings. Then we have 3 Sunday school rooms that are gone. The insurance investigator says he can't rule out arson but can't prove it's arson. He took chemical analysis of the floor but he can't understand how it would start in a Sunday school room where nothing was plugged in, out in the middle of the floor," Chewning said.
To make things worse, someone broke into the burned out building multiple times after the fire and stole what was left inside. Meanwhile, Pastor Chewning is hoping the fire is just an accident and not an act of hate.
"Costumes for the nativity scene and the Easter pageant costumes and I had a complete Roman centurion medal costume I used for it and that was all burned or stolen," Chewning said.
According to Tucson fire investigators the cause of the fire is still undetermined and is still under investigation. In the meantime, the church will move forward as they recover from a fire that left parishioners saddened and looking for answers.
"I love this church I love the people, they're disheartened and sad and some are mad that someone would do this and others are just heart broken," Chewning said.
