A 24-year-old man was arrested today and is facing arson charges for allegedly “intentionally and maliciously” setting the fire that decimated the South Bushwick Reformed Church on June 19.
John Jones is accused of starting the blaze that tore through the 1853 Greek Revival structure at 855-867 Bushwick Avenue, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court today. The fire toppled the landmarked church’s iconic steeple and destroyed its sanctuary.
Defendant John Jones is expected to appear in Brooklyn Federal Court in the coming days, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said today.
John Jones, the suspect.Image via Eastern District of New York 
The South Bushwick Reformed Church in 2022.Photo by Susan De Vries
Investigators allege in the complaint that surveillance footage links Jones to the church at the time the fire was set, including showing him buying a lighter at a nearby store on Broadway and being on the church site shortly before the blaze started. “The individual appears to make several unsuccessful attempts to enter the church and then departs,” the complaint reads.
The complaint says Jones was arrested on June 28 in relation to a “separate property destruction incident” and investigators recognized him as the suspect in the church fire case.
Jones was arrested today after allegedly shoplifting food in Manhattan, and on June 28 for supposedly smashing a TV at DOC Wine Bar in Williamsburg, according to the New York Post.
The arrest comes three weeks after Brownstoner reported a neighbor’s surveillance video showed a person acting suspiciously around the church in the minutes before the fire broke out. A few days later, the FDNY confirmed the blaze was being investigated as arson.
Bushwick residents and preservationists have been “heartbroken” by the fire and the loss of the iconic local landmark, many have told Brownstoner in the days since the June 19 tragedy.
The suspect, dressed in black, on line in a convenience store near the church the day of the fire. Image via Eastern District of New York 
Surveillance video shows someone believed to be the suspect approaching the church around 12:12 pm on the day of the fire. Image via Eastern District of New York
Since the blaze, the church and preservationists have been scrambling to save what is left of the iconic Greek Revival building, raising funds from the public, and negotiating with a developer over an air rights deal, they have said.
The original 1853 church building at 855 Bushwick Avenue, a country-style Greek Revival in white clapboard with its iconic steeple, was completely demolished by the city in the weeks after the fire. An attached addition known as Fellowship Hall at 867 Bushwick Avenue has been spared. With a striking pediment and pilasters, the Greek Revival addition was completed in 1881 as a Sunday school building. Church engineers said it is stable in their June 24 report. The entire structure was landmarked in 1968.
The city in July halted its demolition and turned over the site to the church, which in recent days has been performing asbestos remediation on Fellowship Hall in advance of shoring and stabilizing the structure, Dina Alfano of the Bushwick Historic Preservation Association told Brownstoner Monday.
This week the church announced a $5,000 donation from the Harlem Abyssinian Baptist Church to help with the restoration.
This story first appeared on our sister publication brownstoner.com.