Jurors convict St. Paul man of arson, riot after setting a fire inside Target HQ

Jurors have convicted a St. Paul man of arson and of riot for setting a fire inside Target headquarters and looting in downtown Minneapolis last summer.

Victor D. Edwards, 32, was found guilty following a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

Shador T.C. Jackson, 25, of Richfield, and Le­roy L.P. Williams, 34, of Minneapolis, each pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to commit arson. Jackson was sentenced to 2 ¾ years in prison, while Williams has yet to be sentenced.

The arson and loot­ing erupt­ed on the evening of Aug. 26, after 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.

According to prosecutors:

Edwards, Jackson and Williams went to the Target head­quar­ters on Nicollet, where doz­ens of oth­ers were riot­ing.

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

That same night, Edwards and Jackson stole designer purses and other items from Saks Off Fifth. Edwards sent text messages to various acquaintances telling them about the purses. A text back from one acquaintance asked why he was downtown. Edwards replied, "Lootin."

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

Paul Walsh