An arsonist torched two churches just blocks apart in south Denver on Wednesday morning, and investigators have a young man in custody.
No one was injured in the incidents, but both churches suffered heavy damage.
A female jogger spotted the young man near one of the burning churches and confronted him, keeping him in the area until firefighters and police arrived.
The suspect’s name has not been released, but several young men living in a nearby home said their housemate was being questioned by investigators. Police were searching their home. The young men looked shaken and declined to comment further.
Firefighters received a 911 call at 3:33 a.m. on a fire at Rocky Mountain Miracle Center, 1939 S. Monroe St., a small Christian church with about 65 parishioners.
When firefighters arrived, they found a detached shed engulfed in flames and a fire in the church library, which is on the backside of the building.
“We heard a bunch of noise and saw a flash and looked out our back window, and the shed behind the church was on fire,” said Roger Rountree, who lives around the block.
The shed was gutted, and a section of wooden picket fence behind it was charred to the ground. An older home just a few feet beyond the fence was slightly charred around a window, but it didn’t catch fire.
The blaze in the library started after an arsonist broke a ground-level back window, poured gasoline inside and lit it, church member David Morrissey said.
The fire in the church’s library burned several chairs that were stacked near the window, carpet around the chairs and a portion of the ceiling.
“I’m shocked,” Morrissey said of the fire. “It’s just shocking.”
Morrissey said there haven’t been any confrontations in the church or trouble among its members recently.
Less than two hours later, a second fire started at the Church in Denver, 1900 S. Cook St.
“It scared me awake,” said Jack De Nooy, who lives right behind the Cook Street church. “I thought my garage was on fire.”
The blaze at the Church in Denver burned a garden-level and second-story section of the building and also heavily damaged the roof.
Firefighters took a call on the second fire at 5:41 a.m., said Lt. Phil Champagne, a Denver Fire Department spokesman.
A female jogger spotted the suspect near the Church in Denver fire and kept him there until help arrived, said Denver fire Shift Cmdr. Joe Hart.
“I’m glad they caught him,” said Robert Danek, a member of the Church in Denver. “We appreciate the woman who reported the fire very much.”
Investigators found a gas can nearby at the corner of South Cook Street and East Jewell Avenue. The suspect lives in the 1800 block of South Cook Street.
Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown, who represents the district, said it’s fortunate that no one was injured and that firefighters held the damage to a minimum.
“Our alert and aggressive jogger who held this guy, if she had not been there, it could have been much worse,” Brown said. “Much worse.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
