Cops seek Minnesota man for Grand Forks Somali restaurant fire

Juba Coffee House
Juba Coffee House, a popular Somali restaurant in Grand Forks, N.D., caught fire early Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, leaving the building badly damaged.
Courtesy of Lori Weber Menke | Grand Forks Herald

North Dakota authorities are still looking for a Minnesota man charged with setting the fire that damaged a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks last week.

Matthew Gust, 25, was charged on Friday with arson in connection with a fire Tuesday at Juba Coffee House and Restaurant. Video from the incident shows someone breaking the restaurant's front window and throwing something inside about 2 a.m. on Dec. 8. Court records indicated investigators believe it was a Molotov cocktail.

There is a warrant out for the arrest of Gust, who's from East Grand Forks, Minn.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the fire fit a pattern of attacks targeting Muslims in the wake of the attacks in Paris and California.

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