Photos: Saying goodbye to fire-ravaged First Unitarian Church in Detroit
The mood was somber as preservationists and parishioners sang a hymn, prayed, listened to somber horns and clutched candles.
Video: Historic Detroit church engulfed in flames by time firefighters arrived
Investigators believe the fire on Woodward Avenue near downtown was intentionally set.
Who would burn down historic church adjacent to Detroit’s new Red Wings arena?
Suspicion fell almost immediately on the church’s owner, Salim Kemenko, a property speculator who has wanted to demolish the building but was prohibited from doing so.
Morning fire guts historic Woodward church near downtown Detroit
Flames quickly burst through every window of the hulking church, raising suspicions that an accelerant may have been used.