Vice President Mike Pence walks outside Hotel Bayerischer Hof during Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 16, 2019. Pence is scheduled to visit community leaders in Louisiana where a black church was burned by an arsonist. Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters

Vice President Pence to visit black church burned by arsonist

Nation

OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence has come to Louisiana to show his support for members of three black churches burned by an arsonist.

Pence arrived Friday and is scheduled to meet with community leaders and parishioners of the three churches.

He will also visit Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, one of the burned churches.

The Rev. Gerald Toussaint says he and pastors from the other churches will meet with the vice president.

A local sheriff's deputy's 21-year-old son, Holden Matthews, has been charged in the March and April burnings with offenses including arson.

He's pleaded not guilty.

A crowdfunding campaign for the churches' restoration has raised more than $2.1 million.

From Louisiana, Pence will travel to Kentucky where he'll visit a small company to talk trade and attend the Kentucky Governor's Ball.

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Vice President Pence to visit black church burned by arsonist first appeared on the PBS News website.

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