Before a Black church was set on fire in North Providence, tension with its neighbors simmered

NORTH PROVIDENCE − Pastor Eric Perry suggests that neighbors' longstanding complaints about loud, late-night services at Shiloh Gospel Temple could have inspired the alleged arsonist who tried to set fire to the predominantly Black church on Feb. 11.

The suspect, Kevin Colantonio, did not live in the immediate vicinity of the Pentecostal church, but Perry speculated that he may have seen posts and comments on a neighbor's personal Facebook page.

"Maybe that could have started him up, because on that Facebook page they were saying that there was nothing being done about getting us out of this area," Perry said in an interview. "Maybe that could have been a motivation, I'm not sure."

So far, however, there's no proof that Colantonio was aware of the neighborhood dispute, or that it factored into what prosecutors believe was a racially motivated attack. The neighbor in question said she'd never heard of Colantonio before his arrest, and police say the matter is still being investigated.

Police had been called about loud drumming, late-night fight

Since 2018, Shiloh Gospel Temple has been based in a modest gray brick building on the corner of Charles and Volturno streets, just north of the Providence city line. There's a used-car lot across the street, but the church is otherwise surrounded by houses on all sides – which has led to tensions with neighbors.

The church has about 100 members, Perry previously told The Providence Journal. Services, which are livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook, regularly last two or three hours and typically feature amplified keyboard music and drums.

Friday night worship officially begins at 7 p.m., but past livestreams indicate services often don't really get started until around 8 p.m.

The church also routinely holds multi-day birthday celebrations for its leaders. Perry's 63rd birthday celebration, which took place in January, lasted for five consecutive nights.

Records show that between August 2020 and May 2023, the North Providence Police Department received eight complaints about loud noise coming from the church. Most of those calls were placed after 10:30 p.m., including one report of "loud drums" at 2:26 a.m.

In one case, the responding officer observed that music "could be clearly heard from either side of the roadway" at 10:51 p.m. on a Tuesday. Perry said that he would be calling the mayor "on his personal number to further talk about the issue" but agreed to turn down the volume, the report states.

In at least two other instances, police indicated there was no loud music when they arrived.

"We’ve gone down each time we’ve received calls, and we’ve asked them to lower the music," Police Chief Alfredo Ruggeiro Jr. said. However, he said, Shiloh Gospel Temple hasn't been issued any citations because decibel readers have never indicated that the church is violating local noise ordinances.

Records also show that in November 2022, dispatchers received multiple calls about yelling coming from the church's parking lot just before 1 a.m., and a "disturbance possibly involving a knife."

A man who plays the organ in the church band was subsequently arrested for assault and battery after police determined that he got into an argument inside the church, and then repeatedly punched the victim after the dispute spilled over outside, a report states. A juvenile confessed to handing a knife to the victim for self-defense, but said that the victim didn't take it.

In an interview, Perry said that the fight had nothing to do with the church. He denied that there was an issue with noise and claimed that the complaints had all come from one specific neighbor, though Ruggiero told The Journal that calls have come from "a handful of neighbors."

Church wants neighbor's Facebook posts investigated

After Colantonio's arrest, some of Shiloh Gospel Temple's leaders, members and supporters began suggesting that police should also look into comments made about the church online.

"Based on the timing of several hate-filled social media post (including images and words) by Kevin Colantonio and neighboring members of the community, we feel that the perpetrator may not have acted alone but rather in concert with one or more persons, and we’re calling on law enforcement to investigate this arson until fully exhausted," embattled NAACP Providence president Gerald Catala wrote in a Feb. 16 news release.

More: Investigators allegedly found racist writing in home of man arrested for burning Black church

Perry, in a group interview with Catala and Supreme Richardson, who said he represented Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, agreed to show screenshots of the offending posts to The Journal on the condition that the individuals who posted them would not be named in this article.

The posts appear to show a long-simmering conflict between the neighbor, their friends and the church, with several referencing the police being called over the noise and lamenting the lack of help provided by the authorities. Friends of the neighbor, who did not appear to live in the neighborhood, seemingly egged on the conflict across multiple posts by encouraging police involvement or the making of noise right back at the church.

One post pointed to by Perry referenced the fire, suggested that Perry might have angered someone and asked rhetorically when authorities will do something about the church. The neighbor in question, however, told The Journal that the post was written before any official information was released about the fire and that they were horrified to learn it appeared to be racially motivated.

In a brief interview before a Feb. 16 news conference at the church, Perry told The Journal that neighbors had complained about cars being in the road, and that one churchgoer “got hit by a car, and they didn’t even stop."

He brought up the alleged incident again during a livestreamed service that night, saying that the hateful comments online included “Run them down.”

However, no such language appears in any of the screenshots that were provided to The Journal, and police dispatch logs from the church do not include any mention of a collision. Ruggiero said he was not aware of any such incident.

When asked to provide more details in a subsequent interview, Perry declined to comment.

'No one wants to see something like this happen'

In separate interviews, three neighbors who asked not to be identified told The Journal that loud music and noise from the church's parking lot had been a source of frustration for years, but that there was no connection to the attack, which they condemned.

An additional neighbor, Danny Vargas, said that the church's services could be "pretty loud," but the noise isn't "too crazy" and doesn't bother him. Like the other neighbors, he said that he was deeply disturbed by what had taken place.

Neighbors said that despite frustrations, no one wanted to see the church attacked. And footage captured by their home surveillance cameras was provided to investigators and played a crucial role in Colantonio's arrest.

All four neighbors said that they had never heard of Colantonio. The alleged arsonist lived more than four blocks away, on the opposite side of Charles Street, and wouldn't have been able to hear the church from his apartment.

Ruggiero, the police chief, said the Facebook posts flagged by church members have been handed over to the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, who will be going through them and determining if further action needs to be taken. He said that police also plan to interview neighbors again.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Shiloh Gospel Temple pastor thinks neighborhood complaints led to arson