SALEM – People inside the satanic temple said they received notifications on their phones from the doorbell camera. Someone was on the porch, and the video showed that the place was on fire.
The video showed a man walking from Bridge Street to the property around 10 a.m. Friday night.
In the video, the man entered the porch, dropped a backpack and began spilling flammable liquid, according to police.
The suspect, who was wearing a T-shirt with the word “God” on the front, left.
This sacred crusader in a “GOD” T-shirt just threw an accelerator at the satanic temple headquarters and set it on fire. If you have any information, please contact @SalemMAPolice immediately at 978-744-1212 pic.twitter.com/PgoULGiKuN
– Lucien Greaves (@LucienGreaves) June 11, 2022
Lucien Greaves is the co-founder of the Satanic Temple and said two people were staying at the attached Airbnb at the time of the fire. “We’ve had some people pass by, we’ve received a lot of threats, but no one has ever done anything so blatant as throwing an accelerator at our building and setting it on fire,” he said.
Another person linked to the temple was the first to go out and try to put out the fire herself before calling 911.
When the first lifeguards arrived, Greaves said they put out the fire quickly, but they also noticed a man wearing the same clothes as in the video.
“He returned to the street from the other directions to observe the fire, at which point we had already given police images of the man to the security images,” Greaves said.
Police arrested Daniel Damien Lucey, 42, of Chelsea.
Investigators said Lucey confessed to driving to Salem to light the temple and wanted it to be a hate crime.
Police charged him with burning a house, violating civil rights and destroying a place of worship.
Greaves said he knew it could have been worse, but he believed there was a lesson to be learned.
“If anyone can get something out of that, it would be to take a moment, take a break, out of outrage and talk to people about their beliefs and get a more accurate understanding of who they are,” Greaves said.
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll issued a statement on Saturday denouncing the attack on the temple.
“On behalf of Salem City Council, we condemn this hate attack,” Mayor Driscoll said. “Salem is a welcoming place and this individual’s actions do not reflect who we are or our values as a community.”
Brandon Truitt
Brandon Truitt joined WBZ-TV in January 2022 after working as a reporter and presenter for WPRI in Providence, RI. Prior to WPRI, Truitt worked at WNCT in Greenville, North Carolina, where she began her career in broadcast journalism.