Crime & Safety

Cops: Student Missionary Started Car Fires At Missouri Baptist U

Creve Coeur Police say Andrew Wos, of Eureka is also responsible for trying to set two other cars ablaze at Covenant Seminary.

The St. Louis County Proesecuting Attorney's office has charged a former South African missionary in connection with four counts related to car fires on the Missouri Baptist University and Covenant Seminary campuses earlier this month.

Andrew Wos, 24, of Eureka, was charged Tuesday with four felony counts of Knowingly Burning Or Exploding, and was scheduled for arraignment in St. Louis County Court Wednesday morning.

Authorities responded to a pair of car fires on the Missouri Baptist University campus May 1 and a few hours later were called nearby to Covenant Seminary, where they found vegetation stuck in the gas well of two cars which had not ignited. 

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Three days later, Missouri Baptist University officials announced that a suspect had been identified and that the person was a student, but Creve Coeur Police only said soon after that a person of interest had been identified.

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Missouri Baptist's student school news outlet Timeline Online identified Wos as having come to MBU after 12 years as a Christian missionary in South Africa. “I love MoBap. I like the size; I think it’s just right. I enjoy the level of athleticism on the campus and the general sporty vibe and enthusiasm at games,” Wos told the outlet in a story published in January

A University spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that steps had been taken to prevent the incidents from happening again, but citing federal privacy laws, could not divulge related to any disciplinary action the school may take or may have already taken.


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