Star Tribune
Man who torched St. Paul mosque planned to burn other houses of worship
Prosecutors have charged a 42-year-old man with arson two days after a fire inside a St. Paul mosque caused $250,000 in damages and marked the sixth time such houses of worship have been targeted this year.
Said Murekezi faces charges of second-degree arson, second-degree burglary and possession of methamphetamine in connection with a May 17 blaze at St. Paul’s Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Center. Prosecutors asked Murekezi’s bail be set at $200,000, and say there was no evidence connecting the incident to a crime of bias.
“We welcome any arrest in this situation because our community [learned] from the previous incidents that we really need to act quickly to make sure that the suspect in this case is not going to other mosques,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).
According to the charges, the center has been used as mosque office space since 2021. Three weeks ago the building was vandalized by someone who broke one of the windows, and staff had not used the building since. A bus driver for the Head Start School, located next to the center, saw somebody throw something through one of the mosque windows a day before the fire.
Murekezi told ATF agents after his arrest that he broke into the building the day before to stay overnight and look for things to burn. He admitted to investigators that he started the mosque fire, adding that he ensured nobody was in the building and that what he did was “fun.”
The arson was a form of protest for Murekezi, according to charging documents.
He identified as Muslim, and said he burned the building in protest for other Muslims and Americans who must sleep outside in the cold.
“He said that the building is not serving anyone, but the people need it,” the documents read. “Murekezi stated it was a good thing he was caught, because if he was not caught, he would ‘torch another one’ or ‘a church.'”
According to interviews with Murekezi, his plans were specific. He planned to burn the Islamic Dawah Center in St. Paul as well as an unknown mosque in Mankato, saying he goes to those mosques often to rob money from their donation boxes.
Murekezi’s plans to “bring about change” went further. He told investigators that he hates terrorism but is becoming a terrorist.
“He stated people may get hurt or killed with these ideas, and that it would be messed up,” the charging documents continued.
Murekezi’s first court appearance is set for this afternoon. His criminal history dates back years.
Officials say Murekezi was charged with arson in 2020 for allegedly setting fire to a pile of clothes in his apartment. He barred firefighters from entering the room, and threatened to jump out of the fourth-floor window before he was taken into custody. At the time, he agreed to be taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Murekezi was also arrested in 2020 for threatening his neighbors with a knife, accusing them of being too loud and saying that he would “hurt them” if the noise continued. He was arrested and pled guilty to threats of violence, earning him a year-long sentence that was postponed. The case was dismissed and Murekezi was discharged two years later because he had served time for the sentence by then.
Charging documents say that Murekezi also broke windows at an Islamic community center in Minnetonka in 2021 and at a Catholic church in Minneapolis in 2023. He was in the Hennepin county jail between April 28 and May 15 of this year, and was on probation for criminal damage to property when police arrested him Wednesday.
The fire he allegedly set at the Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Center this week set Minnesotan Muslims on edge, and marked the sixth such incident at a mosque this year, including arson and attempted arson and broken doors and windows at mosques in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Hussein said he and others met with Governor Tim Walz staff on Thursday to request at least $7.5 million in emergency funding for mosques, synagogues and places of worship. Those funds could help secure at least 150 houses of worship, not including mosques, with gear such as surveillance cameras and lighting.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
Betty Danger’s, the quirky northeast Minneapolis bar known for its Ferris wheel and miniature golf, has been sold for $3.5 million.
The property, located at 2501 Marshall St. NE and 2519 Marshall St. NE, was purchased on Nov. 15, according to the certificate of real estate value filed with the state. The primary buyer of the site is entrepreneur Joe Radaich, according to Taylor VerMeer, a spokeswoman for an undisclosed project planned for the site.
“While I can confirm that Joe Radaich is the primary buyer listed on this project, we are not able to share anything more at this time,” VerMeer said in an email.
Radaich has operated bars in the past, including Sporty’s Pub and Grill, which later became Como Tap. Radaich no longer operates Como Tap, an employee said on Tuesday. Radaich did not return requests for comment. Attempts to reach Leslie Bock, the Betty Danger’s previous owner, were unsuccessful.
The property’s mortgage payments are set at $18,886 per month with a 6.15% interest rate, the state filings show.
A Minneapolis nonprofit that served food to low-income kids has agreed to dissolve itself after a state investigation found it violated laws regarding its operations and financial transactions.
The move was announced Tuesday by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office began investigating Gar Gaar Family Services, also known as the Youth Leadership Academy, after it was denied from participating in a federally funded program to provide food to students after school.
The investigation then found additional issues, including:
An attorney who has represented Gar Gaar, Barbara Berens, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon. Neither Ali or Morioka have been charged in criminal court.
The settlement by the state and Gar Gaar requires it to begin the dissolution process within 60 days of a court’s approval. The nonprofit then must transfer its assets to other charitable organizations with a similar mission.
Gar Gaar, which means “help” in Somali, launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to help students in need, especially those in the Somali community. The group served meals outside of the school year as part of the Summer Food Service Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture but managed by the Minnesota Department of Education.
Gar Gaar received $21 million in reimbursements for serving 7 million meals — the top provider of summer meals in Minnesota in 2021.
What would have been a wild story was quickly put to rest Tuesday when Bloomington police issued a statement clarifying that no, it was not in possession of a recorded O.J. Simpson murder confession.
TMZ reported Tuesday afternoon that Bloomington police may have unwittingly come into possession of such a recording after arresting a former bodyguard of Simpson’s more than two years ago.
But about two hours after that report published, the suburban police department sent out a release that said the belongings seized during the arrest of Iroc Avelli had been inspected and officers “did not locate any information of evidentiary value for the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Here’s what police said happened:
Bloomington police arrested Avelli under suspicion of assault on March 3, 2022. Several items were taken by police in the process, including a backpack which contained multiple thumb drives, according to a statement.
They said Avelli and his attorney said one of the thumb drives in the backpack contained a recording of Simpson confessing to the infamous 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, according to Bloomington police.
A search warrant was granted to inspect the thumb drives. A copy was obtained by TMZ, dated June 26, and the document only said the results from the search were “pending.”
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