Feds charge man they say threatened to burn black church

NORFOLK, Va. – Federal authorities say they’ve arrested a North Carolina man who threatened to burn down a black church in Virginia.

John Malcolm Bareswill, 63, was arrested Friday on a charged related to his alleged threat to burn down a Baptist church in Virginia Beach, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.

Court records said Bareswill, who lives in Catawba, North Carolina, called the church earlier this week and made racist remarks and threatened to set the church on fire after one of the church leaders took part in a public vigil for George Floyd.

Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes even after he pleaded for air and stopped moving.

Court records did not immediately identify an attorney for Bareswill.