California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken to Twitter to say he is heartbroken to learn about fire at an Armenian church building in San Francisco.
“I’ve experienced so many wonderful, moving moments in this church. Heartbroken to hear of this – but I know this community lives well beyond these physical walls and will continue to provide the hope and faith it does to so many,” the Governor tweeted.
A building next to an Armenian church in San Francisco’s Laurel Heights burned down overnight Thursday.
Dispatchers received reports around 4 a.m. of a fire at the building next to the St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church. Fire crews arrived on scene not long after and managed to prevent it from spreading to the church, but the building was destroyed.
“The San Francisco Fire Department responded immediately, however, the building has suffered a great loss,” V. Rev. Fr. Smpad Saboundjian and church chairman Rostom Aintablian wrote in a message to parishioners.
District Attorney of San Francisco Chesa Boudin has expressed outrage at the arson at Armenian Church.
“The Armenian community of San Francisco woke up today to an arson at their church. There is no room for this cowardly, hateful, criminal conduct in San Francisco. We stand with the Armenian community against hate,” Mr. Boudin said in a Twitter post.
