Seattle Buddhist Temple Burns for Second Time in Two Days After Suspect Barricades Himself Inside

A Buddhist temple in Seattle caught fire twice in two days, with a man barricading himself inside the building the second time, authorities said.

Waylon Williams, 42, is accused of breaking into Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple on Dec. 31 and starting a fire inside the basement just before 11 p.m. locally.

KIRO 7 News reports:

Seattle police say Williams broke into the temple on Sunday, barricaded himself inside, and then started the fire.

The flames not only damaged the entire basement, but scorched records dating back to 1901.

“A lot of those documents weren’t digitized yet. So everything that went up in flames is gone for good. So a lot of the history of our members and the generations of families that have been coming here a lot of those documents have been completely erased,” Wong explained.

Boy Scout Troop 252, sponsored by the church, also lost its camping and backpacking gear to the fire.

They have since created a GoFundMe for new supplies.

Then just two days later, another set of flames sparked back up.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/seattle-buddhist-temple-burns-second-time-after-police-say-man-barricaded-himself-inside/M3NFG2LKDBHZXDHNDFMIKZHEQY/