A 33-year-old man was charged Friday with setting a double amputee's tent on fire at a homeless encampment near Target Field last week.
Charges: Double amputee 'unlikely to survive' after tent set on fire near Target Field
The 57-year-old victim is in critical condition.
December 15, 2023 at 6:50PM
The criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court said the victim, 57-year-old Steven J. Waddell, remained hospitalized Friday morning in critical condition with burns to 85% to 95% of his body. His wheelchair was also badly burned, the complaint added.
"He is unlikely to survive his injuries," the charging document read.
Anthony C. Leikas of Minneapolis was charged with first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault in connection with the arson attack Dec. 4.
Leikas was arrested Thursday ahead of a court appearance later Friday. Court records do not list an attorney for him. The complaint does not offer a motive for the arson.
According to the charges:
Police were alerted around 1 a.m. on Dec. 5 that someone had started a fire at the encampment near Glenwood Avenue and Twins Way. Officers soon located Waddell on the ground, severely burned.
Waddell told the officers that a man said "burn in hell" as he set the tent ablaze.
Surveillance video shows that Leikas approached the tent, left, and then Waddell's shelter went up in flames shortly before midnight. First responders reached a suffering Waddell an hour later.
Video from a nearby gas station captured Leikas inside. Hennepin County intelligence analysts used those images to identify Leikas as the probable suspect.
After his arrest Thursday, Leikas watched video associated with the case. He told police he watched the fire burn, but it was set by two other people with cigarette butts, according to the complaint.
Leikas has been convicted on multiple counts of robbery and burglary going back to 2008, court records show. He was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in 2008 following an aggravated robbery conviction, and received a nearly three-year sentence in 2016 following a simple robbery conviction.
Leikas made his first court appearance Friday. He's being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Leikas' attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
Star Tribune staff writer Louis Krauss contributed to this story.
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