Regina police continue investigation into church arson

Police are continuing to investigate an arson incident that damaged a church in downtown Regina late last week.

Firefighters were originally called to Blessed Sacrament Parish at around 3:40 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 9.

Crews were able to quickly extinguish a fire affecting the back door of the church. Fire investigators were called in and later determined the blaze was in fact the result of arson.

“Fire investigators reached out to our arson investigators on Friday morning, as they would in any other suspected arson case,” Regina Police Service (RPS) Communications Director Lindsey Hoemsen explained.

“From that point, arson investigators worked to canvas the area, worked with the church itself to see what, if any, surveillance might be available.”

Security camera footage at the site of the fire was shared to social media over the weekend by the parish’s priest.

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In the video, a masked individual can be seen pouring the contents of a jerry can all over the church’s back door and then lighting the contents before fleeing the area.

According to the church’s website. Sunday’s mass was cancelled due to the fire and will remain closed until Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14.

• Surveillance footage shows attempted arson at Regina church

Throughout the weekend, patrol officers and investigators continued the search for information that could assist the investigation.

“As always, the more we can get, the better,” Hoemsen added. “So at this time, the Regina Police Service is asking the public if anyone was in the area at that time or has surveillance footage that they may be able to draw from to reach out.”

Although the incident did affect a place of worship, police have a particular set of investigative procedures in place that must be followed to determine if an offence can be considered a hate crime.

Even then, any intent still needs to proven in court.

“With a hate crime, we must understand/be able to prove the intent/motivation of the suspect in order to lay that kind of charge and then have it hold up in court,” Hoemsen said in a written response.

“One of the challenges of the hate crime charge is that it is bias-motivated, which is something very easy to suggest, but very difficult to prove to the court’s satisfaction. It can be very evident that the charged person committed the act so the officer can defend the charge in court, but the officer cannot assign motivation as bias without more evidence.”

Until the suspect in the parish’s arson is taken into custody, RPS cannot determine what the suspect’s possible motivations were for setting fire to the building.

Anyone with information that might help the investigation is encouraged to contact RPS or Crime Stoppers.