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Man killed in roof collapse at Clinton church
press reports
February 19, 2010
2 MIN READ TIME

Man killed in roof collapse at Clinton church

Man killed in roof collapse at Clinton church
press reports
February 19, 2010

With crime tape blocking off Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Clinton, officials are looking into the

cause of a roof collapse Thursday.

One person was killed and

two injured in the incident.

“It’s bad,” said Tony

Rackley, chairman of the church’s board of deacons, to a media outlet. “This is

really, really bad.”

The church, located at 3790

Faison Highway (N.C. 403), was in the process of building a new sanctuary,

according to church members. Aerial views of the site indicated the structure

was separate from the main church.

The Clinton Fire Department,

the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office and Sampson County EMS responded to Mount

Vernon shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday following a call of a building

collapse, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Pope.

Investigators said workers with Clifton Halso Inc. General Contractors out of

Chinquapin were putting up trusses when a large section of the structure’s

front portion fell on top of them.

One man, a Hispanic male, was pronounced dead at the scene. The man was

reportedly walking beneath a section of the rafters when it fell.

Two others were transported to Sampson Regional Medical Center, one of which

after the helicopter airlifting him was diverted. The names of the three men

are being withheld pending notification of their family members, Pope said.

The

extent of the injuries sustained by the other two men were not immediately

known.

Department of Labor officials are helping the sheriff’s office process the

scene.

Ray Gainey, chairman of the

church’s Building and Planning Committee, was also at the scene with Rackley

working with investigators to figure out the cause.

Rackley said he did not want

to speculate as to what caused the collapse, but stated a thorough

investigation would be conducted.

Gainey said he was “shocked” by the

occurrence. The church had begun construction on the new sanctuary in November,

he said.