A historic African-American church about 60 miles north of Charleston caught fire late Tuesday night.
The Post and Courier reports fire crews responded to the blaze at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 564 MacKey Road, around 9:30 p.m. They still had not put out the fire as of approximately 10:30 p.m., after which officials will be able to conduct an investigation into its cause.
Mark Keel, chief of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, told the Post and Courier that lightning from a recent storm may have ignited the church, although he did not know for sure.
The fire comes after nine churchgoers were killed by a gunman at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church on June 17.
According to the Post and Courier, Mount Zion was burned to the ground by the Ku Klux Klan in 1995.
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