The building, which was severely damaged, also served as a Jewish community center and kosher grocery.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
A suspect was arrested Thursday for an arson attack on a combined synagogue and Jewish community center in Casa Grande, Arizona, earlier in the week.
Everardo Gregorio, 30, was identified from security footage from inside the Kahal Chasidim Jewish Community Center and nearby businesses that detectives reviewed after the fire broke out before dawn last Monday.
The videos showed him “walking on and around the property three different times throughout the night,” the police report said.
The last time he was seen was just three minutes before smoke began emanating from the building.
According to the local Fox 10 News, when the authorities arrested the local man, “he was wearing the same brand and style of sandals seen on the video.”
The suspect, who has had run-ins with the law in the past, denied all involvement in the incident, saying he was asleep at the time “and had nothing to do with it,” the report said.
The one-floor building, which also contained a kosher grocery store and classrooms, had just been renovated, according to local reports.
Both the interior and the exterior of the building were severely damaged by the flames, which firefighters battled for some two hours before it was successfully extinguished.
An ABC affiliate reported that the “owner” of the property said that the synagogue’s Torah scroll was not inside at the time, a fact that he had called “a blessing.”
The head of the Center, Rabbi Mendy Deitsch, told Yeshiva World News, “We’re devastated, but we’re not broken. This is a place of unity and strength, and we will rebuild.”
The Jewish community has received “an outpouring of support from neighbors and friends across Casa Grande,” the rabbi said. “It’s a testament to the spirit here.”
“This is a setback, but it’s not the end,” he added. “We’ll come back stronger.”
The community numbers only about 500 people, most of them ultra-Orthodox families who reportedly only recently came to the small city of 64,000 located about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, the state’s two biggest population centers.
The police have yet to provide a motive for the attack, and Gregorio is so far only accused of felony arson of an occupied structure.
His next court appearance is set for Friday.
