Brainerd man pleads guilty in precinct fire at Floyd protest
A Brainerd, Minn., man pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in helping to set fire to a Minneapolis police station during civil unrest in the days following the death of George Floyd.
A federal complaint accuses Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, 23, of lighting a Molotov cocktail that another person threw toward the 3rd Precinct headquarters on May 28. Robinson and others allegedly tore down a fence that surrounded the building.
Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit arson. His attorney, William Mauzy, did not immediately respond to an email message from The Associated Press.
Sentencing is set for April 6.
The burning of the precinct and dozens of other buildings led the governor to call in the National Guard to quell the unrest that followed Floyd’s death. Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, died May 25 after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck.
Several people have been charged in the precinct fire. Bryce Michael Williams, 26, of Staples, Minn., pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to commit arson. He was the first person to enter a plea in the case.
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