Charges: Man who set fire to St. Paul Islamic center has history of arson, damaging property at religious institutions, WCCO (CBS), 5/19/23
. . . Charging documents say Said Murekezi admitted to breaking into the Islamic Center on Tuesday and stayed there overnight, looking for things inside to burn. A witness who worked at a school across the street said he'd seen Murekezi throw something at the window of the Islamic Center sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.
Surveillance camera footage allegedly shows Murekezi on Wednesday morning enter the mosque through the broken window. Ten minutes later, he appeared on the east side of the building, and smoke is visible.
Investigators used facial recognition technology to match the surveillance footage to Murekezi, documents state. In an interview, Murekezi said it was a good thing he was caught, because if he had not been he would "torch another one," or a "church." He said he was a Muslim, and burned the mosque as a form of protest because other Muslims in the community were sleeping out in the cold. (it is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions -progree)
Murekezi had been in custody at the Hennepin County Jail from April 28 to May 15. He was on probation for first-degree criminal damage to property. According to the complaint, he had broken windows at a Catholic church in Minneapolis in 2023, and at an Islamic community center in Minnetonka in 2021. He was also charged with arson in connection to a 2020 fire at a residential unit at Dorothy Day Place.
A little more at:
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/charges-man-who-set-fire-to-st-paul-islamic-center-has-history-of-arson-damaging-property-at-religious-institutions/
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