Suspects sought in attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses halls

SEATTLE — Officials are still searching for suspects in a string of arsons and a gunfire attack on Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Halls in Thurston and Pierce counties.

Six fires have been set since March 2018, and a Kingdom Hall in Yelm was shot at dozens of times, according to a statement from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Seattle.

No one was injured in the attacks, but two Kingdom Halls were destroyed.

“It is inevitable that innocent people will be injured or killed if these incidents go unchecked,” ATF Seattle Special Agent in Charge Darek Pleasants said in a statement.

The fires started March 19, 2018, when Kingdom Halls in Tumwater and Olympia sustained minor damage. Two months later, a Kingdom Hall in Yelm was fired upon with 35 rifle rounds, causing more than $10,000 in damage, according to ATF.

The same places of worship in Olympia and Yelm were targeted again that summer. The Olympia hall on Cain Road was destroyed in July. In Yelm, congregation members put out a fire set to the back fence of the hall in August before it caused major damage.

In December, a Kingdom Hall in Lacey was destroyed in a fire. And in August of this year, a fire in Puyallup damaged an exterior wall and overhang.