Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ST PAUL, Minn. – A Plymouth man has been indicted on one count of arson and one count of damage to religious property, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, on April 23, 2023, at approximately 7:00 p.m., Little, 36, started a fire in the bathroom of the Masjid Omar Islamic Center. On April 24, 2023, just before 7:00 p.m., Little was captured on surveillance video entering the Masjid Al Rahma. Shortly thereafter, a fire broke out on the third floor of the mosque, and the building was evacuated.

According to court documents, prior to the arson incidents, on January 5, 2023, Little was captured on surveillance video entering the Minneapolis district office of a U.S. Representative. Little spray-painted the text “500” on the front door of the U.S. Representative’s office and photographed the graffiti. Later that same day, Little spray-painted the same text (“500”) on the side of a patrol vehicle assigned to a Somali Minneapolis Police Department officer as well as in an entryway at a marketplace, colloquially referred to as the “Somali Mall.”

Little, who was arrested in Mankato on April 29, was arraigned this morning in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright. He was ordered to remain in detention pending further court proceedings.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights and National Security Divisions, the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Manda M. Sertich is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.