Charges: Jackie Rahm Little set fire inside Minneapolis' Masjid Al Rahma mosque
MINNEAPOLIS – Police are searching for a 36-year-old man charged with starting a fire Monday evening inside a Minneapolis mosque.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says Jackie Rahm Little is charged with second-degree arson in connection with the fire at Masjid Al Rahma, located on the 2600 block of Bloomington Avenue South.
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The criminal complaint states that the mosque's surveillance video shows Little walking into the building with a bag that contained a plastic gas container.
Soon after, a mosque employee discovered the fire, with a melted gas container as its source, in a hallway on the building's top floor. Damage from the fire is estimated to be more than $1,000.
Police got surveillance video from a gas station close by that shows Little, after setting the fire at Masjid Al Rahma, buying a gas can and filling it.
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A fire was also set about a half-mile away Sunday inside a bathroom at the Masjid Omar Islamic Center. That case also involves a man who brought in a bag containing a gas container. Minneapolis police believe both fires are related.
Little was charged with arson in 2021 for allegedly lighting a vehicle on fire outside an apartment building he used to live in in Minneapolis. He had been evicted weeks prior, according to charging documents. He was bailed out by Minnesota Freedom Fund, and the case is still pending.
Court records show Little was civilly committed twice in the past two years, most recently in December of 2022.
Anyone with information on Little's whereabouts is asked to call Minneapolis police. CAIR-Minnesota is offering a $5,000 reward for his arrest and conviction.
Little was reported missing by Edina police back in 2021.
