Trailer full of Bibles intentionally set on fire outside Tenn. church on Easter

MT. JULIET, Tenn. (KT) -- A trailer full of Bibles was intentionally set on fire outside a church early Sunday morning.

The Wilson County Sheriff's Department issued a statement around 9 a.m. on Facebook about the fire that started around 6 a.m. and forced a road closure. It is estimated there were 200 Bibles on the trailer.

Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church, located about 20 miles from Nashville, shared pictures of the trailer on social media. Locke lives close to the church, but wasn't aware of the fire until he arrived at church Sunday morning.

"It was strange because he (the suspect) had his blinkers on and he scorched the wheels and everything," Locke said. "He was very meticulous ... we've had people do things to our building, we've been vandalized a number of times, hence why we have to have security, but never 200 Bibles being burned. That's a pretty rebellious statement toward the church ... what people think many times is it's going to stop us, really just encourages us, in a weird way, to know that we're doing what's right."

Locke told his congregation during a livestreamed Easter service that the culprit would be "getting in quite a deal of trouble" soon. Locke said he wanted to "start passing out" the scorched Bible pages, but authorities had confiscated them as evidence. He added that the incident was being investigated as a hate crime and that the FBI was involved.

The Mt. Juliet Police Department responded to the scene, accompanied by the Mt. Juliet Fire Department which worked quickly to extinguish the blaze. Officials believe that the trailer was intentionally dropped off in the middle of an intersection and intentionally set on fire. No injuries were reported. Initial reports indicated that the car appeared to have an out-of-state license plate. Investigators are reviewing security footage.