BLM Protester Gets Probation for Attempted Arson of Minnesota School

A federal court in Minnesota sentenced a man to five years of probation after he attempted to burn down a high school during a BLM riot. The incident took place during the riots that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020.

U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty, a Reagan appointee, ordered 20-year-old Mohamed Hussein Abdi to pay $34,000 in restitution to Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, and spend five years on probation after he attempted to set fire to the school, Fox News reported. The sentencing followed a guilty plea by the defendant to charges of conspiracy to commit arson.

Police arrested Abdi in June 2020 after he entered the high school through a broken glass door, the Fox News report revealed.  The incident took place in May of that year during a Black Lives Matter riot. Video evidence showed Abdi entering the school and pouring liquid from a white container onto the floor and a trashcan.

He then took a “liquid-soaked garment” and set fire to the trash can. As the fire ignited and began to spread, he could be seen running from the scene, TwinCities.com reported. Flames and black smoke quickly spread.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the FBI, the Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division, and the St. Paul Police Department investigated the May school burning. One month after the incident, officials arrested Abdi.

Police arrested a Rochester, Minnesota, couple in Mexico in February after the investigation also linked them to the Parks High School fire. The fire that stemmed from the Black Lives Matter riot that followed the George Floyd murder is named after the famed black fashion photographer, the local news outlet reported.

Mexican police officials detained Jose Felan, 34, and Mena Yousif, 22 on suspicion of immigration charges. The article states that Felan faces three counts of arson while Yousif is charged with being an accessory after the fact.