Two men plead guilty to arson in Minneapolis unrest

Two men have pleaded guilty to federal arson charges in connection with fires that were set inside the Target corporate headquarters during unrest that followed rumors of a police shooting in downtown Minneapolis last August.

The unrest began after a Black man who was a suspect in a homicide fatally shot himself as police were closing in. In the city still reeling from the May 25 death of George Floyd, rumors of a police shooting circulated and demonstrators went downtown to protest.

Twenty-four-year-old Shador Tommie Cortez Jackson of Richfield and 34-year-old Leroy Lemonte Perry Williams of Minneapolis both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit arson.

Prosecutors say Jackson broke through the building’s glass doors using a construction sign, and then entered the building with Williams and others. Once inside, Jackson helped set a fire in the mailroom, court documents said.

The men, along with other identified individuals, then ran out of the building. Williams later went back inside and tried to light a fire at the building’s entrance, according to the indictment.

Both men are scheduled to be sentenced in May.

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