2 admit setting fires at Minneapolis Target HQ amid riot over false rumor

Two men have pleaded guilty to setting fires last summer in­side Target's world head­quar­ters in down­town Minneapolis amid rioting over a false rumor that a Black man had been killed by police.

Shador T.C. Jackson, 24, of Richfield, and Le­roy L.P. Williams, 34, of Minneapolis, each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to conspiracy to commit arson. Both remain jailed ahead of Judge Patrick Schiltz sentencing of Jackson on May 4 and Williams on May 18.

Ar­son and loot­ing erupt­ed on the evening of Aug. 26, when Eddie Frank Sole Jr., 38, fa­tal­ly shot him­self on Nicollet Mall short­ly af­ter he was sus­pected of shooting and killing another man. Sole's su­i­cide sparked a false ru­mor that po­lice had killed him.

Prosecutors say that Jackson, Williams and co-defendant Victor D. Edwards, 31, of St. Paul, went to the Target head­quar­ters on Nicollet, where doz­ens of oth­ers had gath­ered and start­ed riot­ing.

Jackson is accused of using a con­struc­tion sign to break through a glass door of the build­ing. The three then went in­side, where Jackson in­ten­tion­al­ly set a fire on a count­er in the mail­room and Edwards add­ed a li­quid ac­cel­er­ant, according to the charges.

Edwards, Jackson and Williams along with oth­ers fled out the same door they en­tered, but Williams allegedly re­turned and at­tempt­ed to start a fire in­side the build­ing's en­trance.

All three de­fend­ants have fel­o­ny re­cords in Minnesota. Jackson has con­vic­tions for se­cond-de­gree as­sault and drug pos­ses­sion. Edwards was con­victed in 2016 in Hennepin County for third-de­gree crim­i­nal sex­ual con­duct. He's also been con­victed of theft, drug pos­ses­sion and child en­dan­ger­ment. Williams has been con­victed seven times for theft, twice for il­legal pos­ses­sion of a fire­arm in public, and once each for bur­gla­ry and re­ceiv­ing sto­len prop­er­ty.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482