NORTH PROVIDENCE – Investigators allegedly found racist and extremist writings in the apartment of the town resident accused of trying to torch the Shiloh Gospel Temple early Sunday.
Federal authorities say Kevin Colantonio, 35, purchased $10 of gasoline and a Bic lighter at Cumberland Farms before heading on foot to the Pentecostal church at 974 Charles St. in North Providence and igniting several fires around the building.
“Hunt them down. Gun everyone who isn’t white,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter K. Roklan read Thursday at Colantonio’s initial appearance in U.S. District Court.
Other writings included more about burning down churches and targeting nonwhites, revealing Colantionio’s racist, extremist ideology and motives for setting multiple fires around the church, Roklan said.
Shiloh Gospel Temple has about 100 members, most of whom are Black.
Colantonio was arrested at his home Thursday without incident by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with members of the North Providence Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. He is charged with maliciously damaging or destroying property by fire or explosives, according to an affidavit unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court.