Police say a man caught on surveillance video smashing windows at a South Minneapolis auto parts store in the days after George Floyd’s death is suspected of having ties to a white supremacist group and attempted to incite racial tension. .
The man’s actions soon led to an arson, the first of several that turned the peaceful protests into chaos, police say. He has been nicknamed “Umbrella Man” for wearing an all-black outfit that included a hood, gas mask, and black umbrella.
“This was the first fire that sparked a series of fires and looting throughout the compound and the rest of the city,” Erika Christensen, a fire investigator for Minneapolis police arson, wrote in a search affidavit this week, reported the Star Tribune.
Police identified the 32-year-old suspect through an e-mail notice last week, Christensen said, and it is understood that he is a member of Hell’s Angels who was bent on causing social unrest.
Minneapolis police declined to confirm the suspect’s name.
Despite the fact that most of the protests in Minnesota are peaceful, some riots spread to other parts of Minneapolis and St Paul.
Floyd was killed on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. A video streamed live two days later on May 27 showed “Umbrella Man” walking through the front of an AutoZone store and smashing windows with a mallet. Some protesters confronted the man and asked him to stop.
Before that, the man, who was carrying a black, spray-painted umbrella on the front doors, police said. The AutoZone fire was the first firefighters responded to during the civil unrest, Bryan Tyner, assistant chief firefighter for Minneapolis, said Tuesday.
In the affidavit, Christensen wrote that he saw “countless hours” of videos on social media platforms trying to identify the suspect with no luck.
Finally, an informant sent an email to the Minneapolis Police Department identifying the man as a member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang that “wanted to sow discord and racial unrest by breaking windows and writing what he did on the double red doors,” according to the affidavit.
An investigation found that the man was also an associate of the Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison, and a street gang.
