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.
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
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