Police: church fire involved 'foul play'
Posted: Apr 02, 2011 7:24 PM PDT Updated: Apr 02, 2011 8:22 PM PDT
The fire erupted around 4 p.m. at Shells Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Hanover Township. Firefighters said they found heavy smoke in the church basement and in the sanctuary.
To fight the fire, they had to break stained glass windows that church members said were more than 200 years old.
State police said they took a 25-year old man from Coxsackie, NY into custody after an incident at the TA truck stop along Interstate 81 in West Hanover Township and consider him a suspect in the fire.
A truck driver reported that the unidentified man was "doing doughnuts" when golf clubs fell out of his car, according to police. The truck driver beeped his horn to alert the man, who became angered and began yelling and banging on the trucker's door. The man was bleeding and smeared blood on the door, police said.
Police said the trucker "obtained information that a church was set on fire" and called 911.
Investigators said they found the suspect walking along Route 39, bleeding and apparently under the influence of controlled substances. Troopers transported him to Harrisburg Hospital for his injuries and for an evaluation.
His car was found crashed into the side of another church, the Capitol Bible Church off of Route 39. Police said it appeared as though the suspect drove the car through a fire hydrant and then into the side of the church.
Rev. Linda Hostetter, pastor of Shells Evangelical Lutheran, said seeing the church after the fire was very sad. She said the nature of the fire is disappointing, but that church-goers will recover.
"This is a congregation that - they care for each other very much," she said. "If any congregation can come out of - any group of people can come out of something like this stronger, these group of people really will. They really will."
Sunday church services were canceled. The church is looking for a temporary place to worship.
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