By Justina Latimer
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NASHVILLE (WSMV) — A man was taken to the hospital after entering a Madison church, allegedly starting a fire and jumping out a window.
“It’s sad…” said Pastor Sergio Arce of Madison First Baptist Church.
Pastor Arce says he left his church last Thursday shortly before 5 p.m. Soon after, he heard someone enter the church.
Dashcam footage shows a man ringing the doorbell and then breaking a window to gain entry.
“This individual did not steal anything. He did not take anything,” said Pastor Arce.
When police arrived, the suspect, Jaron Ervin, was still in the building. According to police, Ervin then jumped out of a window. Asked how the fire started, he said: ‘I was sending an SOS’
“The room is completely dark now. Things burned. There’s just a lot of ash, things that have pretty much decayed to nothing,” Arce explained.
Despite tons of damage and destroyed items in the church’s education wing, the pastor is looking at the positives.
“As devastating as it is to have to deal with the damage that has been done to the church property, the bright side is that the church is not the building,” Arce said.
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