Man Indicted in Minneapolis Mosque Arson Fires
A Plymouth man has been indicted on one count of arson and one count of damage to religious property in relation to two fires set in south Minneapolis mosques.
According to court documents, on April 23 around 7 p.m., Jackie Rahm Little, 36, started a fire in the bathroom of the Masjid Omar Islamic Center.
On April 24 just before 7 p.m., Little was captured on surveillance video entering the Masjid Al Rahma. Shortly after, a fire broke out on the third floor of the mosque and the building was evacuated.
According to court documents, prior to the arson incidents, on January 5, 2023, Little was seen on surveillance video entering the Minneapolis district office of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. Little allegedly spray-painted the text “500” on the front door of Omar’s office and photographed the graffiti.
Later that same day, Little spray-painted the same text (“500”) on the side of a patrol vehicle assigned to a Somali Minneapolis Police Department officer as well as in an entryway at a marketplace, colloquially referred to as the “Somali Mall.”
Little, who was arrested in Mankato on April 29, was arraigned this week in U.S. District Court and ordered to remain in jail pending further court proceedings. According to Hennepin County court records, Little had been committed as mentally ill three times in 2021 and 2022 but had been released on a provisional discharge.
The mosque arson case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, ATF, the Minneapolis Police Department and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights and National Security Divisions, the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
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