Hosemann: Initial investigation shows church burning "not of a p - WDAM-TV 7-News, Weather, Sports-Hattiesburg, MS

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said Wednesday Mississippians should not assume a Greenville church was burned and vandalized for political reasons.

"I would be very careful about jumping to conclusions as to why that occurred," Hosemann said. "I've been in contact with the Mississippi Highway Patrol and authorities in Greenville concerning that and any effect it may have on the election. Before we start going back that this was somebody of a political nature, we need to get all the facts because my discussions indicate that that may not be the case."

Regardless of the motive, Hosemann said it is unacceptable.

"Any burning of any public facility or church should be prosecuted to the maximum as far as I can tell," Hosemann said. "Then that individual should be held accountable immediately, but in this instance, I want to make it clear that the initial work here indicates this is not of a political nature, even though there may be something that says 'vote Trump' on the side of the church. So everybody needs to calm down here until we get to the bottom of this, but when we get there, whoever did this needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Period."    

Copyright WDAM 2016. All rights reserved.