Report: FBI Investigating String of Fires at Black Churches

The FBI announced this week that it will be investigating a string of fires at five black churches across the U.S. for a possible connection.

A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed over the weekend that the agency, in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, will be investigating the fires that recently occurred in five states, including South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.

As Buzzfeed reports, three of the five fires have been confirmed as arson attacks.

"They're being investigated to determine who is responsible and what motives are behind them," FBI spokesperson Paul Bresson said in a statement. "I'm not sure there is any reason to link them together at this point."

The churches that have recently been hit by the fires include College Hills Seventh Day Adventist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., God's Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia, Briar Creek Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Glover Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Warrenville, South Carolina, and College Heights Baptist Church in Elyria, Ohio.

The report of the fire investigation comes shortly after a mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17.

The shooter behind the rampage, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, allegedly wanted to start a race war by attacking the black church, according to his friends.

"He was big into segregation and other stuff. He said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself," Dalton Tyler, Roof's roommate, told ABC News following the attack.