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Fire-bombings at 2 Staten Island churches in a week, NYPD says

Police are investigating whether two fire-bombing attempts at churches on Staten Island are connected, the NYPD said.

The most recent incident happened Thursday night, when police said someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the exterior wall of First Central Baptist Church on Wright Street in the Stapleton neighborhood.

Police said the firebomb set the exterior wall of the church and its awning on fire, but the inside of the church was not damaged.

The incident comes less than a week after a fire-bombing at another church close by, police said.

An NYPD spokesman said someone threw a Molotov cocktail through a window of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, located just a few blocks away from Central Baptist Church, on Sunday, June 5.

In that incident, police said the firebomb landed on a cement floor and caused minor damage.

The NYPD said its Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the most recent firebombing. So far, police said there is no known motive.