Charges: Man who set fire to St. Paul Islamic center has history of arson, damaging property at religious institutions
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A 42-year-old man with a history of arson and criminal damage to property charges has been accused of setting fire to an Islamic center in St. Paul on Wednesday.
The attack on the Tawhid Islamic Center of Minnesota, on the 400 block of Dale Street, is the sixth attack on a Minnesota mosque this year.
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Charging documents say Said Murekezi admitted to breaking into the Islamic Center on Tuesday and stayed there overnight, looking for things inside to burn. A witness who worked at a school across the street said he'd seen Murekezi throw something at the window of the Islamic Center sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.
Surveillance camera footage allegedly shows Murekezi on Wednesday morning enter the mosque through the broken window. Ten minutes later, he appeared on the east side of the building, and smoke is visible.
Documents say a witness, who was working nearby, was on a smoke break shortly after 8:30 a.m. when Murekezi approached from the direction of the mosque and asked for a cigarette. The witness said he saw the front room of the mosque was engulfed in flames, and called 911.
Investigators used facial recognition technology to match the surveillance footage to Murekezi, documents state. In an interview, Murekezi said it was a good thing he was caught, because if he had not been he would "torch another one," or a "church." He said he was a Muslim, and burned the mosque as a form of protest because other Muslims in the community were sleeping out in the cold.
Murekezi had been in custody at the Hennepin County Jail from April 28 to May 15. He was on probation for first-degree criminal damage to property. According to the complaint, he had broken windows at a Catholic church in Minneapolis in 2023, and at an Islamic community center in Minnetonka in 2021. He was also charged with arson in connection to a 2020 fire at a residential unit at Dorothy Day Place.
Murekezi is charged with second-degree arson and second-degree burglary, along with drug possession, as he had methamphetamine on him when he was arrested.
