Man arrested, accused of screaming slurs, mooning black church members

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — Arby Della Wilson said she couldn’t believe what she heard Sunday morning.

“I was like, ‘This can’t be happening in 2020,‘” she said.

Wilson was with dozens of others worshiping Sunday morning at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Sharon. The historic black church has been part of the community for more than 100 years.

Since COVID-19, the church has moved its music and its message outside. People sit in their cars on the sloping front lawn and listen to Pastor John Brown.

This past Sunday morning was different. A neighbor walked outside, came out to the edge of the street, and began yelling at the people gathered outside.

“He just started shouting racial slurs at us. We’re in the middle of worship. I’m’ preaching and he began to call us the N-word,” Brown said.

The pastor was horrified but tried to keep the congregation focused on his message.

The man kept walking back and forth, yelling, even dropping his pants and exposing his behind. At one point, Brown said the man turned up the music in his car to continue disrupting the service.

Wilson was worried about what the many young children there were hearing for the first time in their lives.

“These children haven’t been called the N-word. It’s hard to explain to 7-, 8- and 9-year-old children, why is this man doing this?” she said.

Brown took a few days to reflect, then went before the Sharon Town Council on Tuesday night and told them what had happened. He also filed a report with the York County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’re not gonna sit back and allow this type of injustice, this type of racial hatred to come against us, or anybody else,” Brown said.

York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson spoke directly to Brown after the report was filed. He told Channel 9 that deputies were getting witness statements and reviewing video of the service that was broadcast on Facebook Live.

On Friday, Channel 9 learned that 38-year-old Joshua Scronce was arrested and charged with disturbing a worship service.

There’s no hate crime law in South Carolina that governs these actions or hate speech. However, church members want to see charges filed to let everyone know that this can’t happen anymore.

“You can’t keep doing this and get away with it. I don’t know what punishment, but something needs to be done,” Wilson said.

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