KINGMAN, Ariz. – A New Mexico man who set a church on fire in Lake Havasu City said he was sorry before he was sentenced to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
“I apologize to everybody for what I did. That’s not my character,” Keith Gensamer, 50, said during the July 15 sentencing hearing before Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle in Kingman. “I’m still not sure why I did it, but I did.”
Defense attorney Jovan Ruvalcaba said Gensamer has battled mental health issues for years. He said his mother was murdered when he was 10 years old and that Gensamer suffers PTSD from multiple military tours as a combat medic in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“He needs help,” Ruvalcaba said of Gensamer. “He’s asking forgiveness from the community.”
It has never been contested that Gensamer entered the upgraded Smoketree Avenue Campus Calvary Baptist Church last Nov., before pouring gas and lighting fires that damaged an electronics room and an altar area. He had no issues with the church or its congregation and reportedly was trying to draw police response so he could commit “suicide by cop” before he “chickened out.”
Damage to the church is estimated between $250,000 to $500,000.
Gensamer pleaded guilty to an arson charge. Judge Carlisle imposed an 18-month prison term.
