A Minnesota man is now facing charges for the arson attack on a precinct building in the aftermath of the in-custody death of George Floyd, which sparked violent riots across the country.
According to KIMT-TV, United States Attorney Erica MacDonald says that the suspect—identified by authorities as 23-year-old Branden Michael Wolfe—is accused of aiding and abetting arson. He is scheduled to make his initial appears in U.S. District Court Tuesday.
The third precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department was overrun during protests in late May and heavily damaged due to vandalism and arson.
In early June, police were called to a home improvement store in St. Paul about an individual—later identified by police as Wolfe—wearing body armor and a law enforcement duty belt. He had been fired by the management of the store earlier that day because of social media posts about stealing items from the police facility that had been vandalized and burned, police say.
At the time that Wolfe was arrested he was reportedly wearing multiple items stolen from the police building, including body armor, a police-issue duty belt with handcuffs, and a baton.
According to the criminal complaint, the Minneapolis Police Department, recovered from Wolfe's apartment a variety of other police equipment belonging to the agency.
