“In no way can we say that someone related to the demonstrations is involved or is responsible for this crime,” said Chief Reynoso. “We don’t know why at the moment.”
The Baptist Church Primeiras Obras was founded in 2017, according to its website.
Mr. Mejia said the church has been in its current location for three years. The church, a low-rise building on a corner, resembles a store, with restaurants and homes nearby.
“It won’t really stop us from doing what we always do,” said Mejia on Saturday. “We are not afraid of that. It’s just a little bump on the way, and we’re still planning to have a church tomorrow, obviously not in this current location, but we’re still planning to have a church and once all of that is said and done, let’s go back. “
The church is part of the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement, a network of 22 American and eight international churches known for their hateful rhetoric and calls on the government to arrest and execute gays, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that analyzes hate groups, reported in 2019.
Mr. Mejia is an avowed acolyte of the leader of the network, Steven Anderson, an Arizona pastor who received wide conviction for celebrating the 2016 shooting at the gay Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people were killed, the Southern Poverty Law Center said.
Mr. Anderson also gained notoriety in 2009 for saying in a sermon that he prayed for the death of President Barack Obama, and was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League in 2014 for what he called his “history of anti-Semitism”.
Calls and an email to Mr. Anderson’s church were not immediately returned.
Mr. Mejia and Mr. Anderson were among several church leaders who spoke at the “Make America Straight Again” conference in Orlando in 2019, two days after the third anniversary of the Pulse massacre, according to the legal center.