Man found dead in burning Shaw church

Police lights

A man is dead after District firefighters found his body early Saturday inside a burning historic church in Northwest D.C.

Firefighters say around 1:16 a.m. they extinguished a fire that started in a doorway at Shiloh Baptist Church on 9th St. NW.

They say the fire slightly extended inside the church, where they found the man's body.

Firefighters did not identify the man or release his cause of death. An investigation is underway. 

Shiloh Baptist Church was founded in 1804 in Fredericksburg, and its congregants, most of whom were slaves, moved Shiloh to D.C. in 1863 after Congress approved emancipation in the District.

President Barack Obama and his family celebrated Easter at the church in 2011.