A Minneapolis man lit a dumpster on fire in the Uptown neighborhood near where a man was fatally shot by U.S. marshals, charges say.
Tyler M. Ferguson, 22, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with one count each of second-degree arson and first-degree damage to property.
Ferguson is accused of lighting a dumpster on fire behind Stella's Fish Cafe on July 6, causing $52,000 in damage to the restaurant's heating and cooling system, $20,000 in damage to the dumpster area and $7,000-$10,000 in damage to the security camera system.
Winston Smith, a 32-year-old Black man, was fatally shot June 3 on the top level of a parking garage near Stella's, where he had dined before he was killed. Members of a U.S. marshals task force were trying to arrest him on a firearms warrant. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has said that Smith fired a weapon from inside the car. Attorneys for a woman inside the car with Smith said she never saw a gun. Protesters have demonstrated almost nightly.
According to the criminal complaint: Security footage at the scene showed Ferguson and another man enter the alley about 3:04 a.m. The other man carried a brown paper bag that he ignited and placed atop cardboard that was on the dumpsters. The man left.
Ferguson, who was wearing a "bullet vest," then added a cardboard box to the burning bag, watched it ignite and "moves the cardboard to ensure the fire catches," the charges said.
Ferguson then moved the burning bag to the rear of a dumpster where it ignited other items.
Video from July 3 allegedly showed Ferguson pushing one of Stella's dumpsters into the alley.
