A 20-year-old man who went into a Minneapolis high school and tried to light a fire amid the summer unrest of 2020 was sentenced to five years probation on Thursday.
Mohamed Hussein Abdi pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson. Abdi received sentencing in a St. Paul, Minnesota, district court, as first reported by Fox News. He was taken into custody in June 2020 after walking into a high school amid rioting and setting fire to a trash bin. Security footage shows he poured liquid on the ground, as well as into the can, and ran away as smoke started to build.
Abdi was sentenced pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News. The federal statute “permits an individual to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment or probation and a fine, and to receive additional sanctions.” Sanctions mentioned include “forfeiture for certain racketeering crimes and drug-related offenses,” a notice order to victims involving fraud or deception, and restitution in cases that involve property damage or bodily injury.
The rioter was also hit with a fine totaling close to $34,000. It is to be paid to the high school targeted by Abdi — Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul. Gordon Parks was damaged by vandalism and fire, according to a complaint in conjunction with Abdi being charged in 2020. Abdi coordinated with a friend and also chucked rocks at law enforcement, Star Tribune noted.
Abdi is not the only Minneapolis rioter who is making headlines. As reported by The Daily Wire, Montez Terriel Lee, 26, dodged a murder charge. Lee burned down a pawnshop amid the Floyd riots, which resulted in the death of 30-year-old Oscar Lee Stewart. The U.S. Department of Justice relied on The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office — which said Stewart’s death was because of “probable inhalation of products of combustion and thermal injury (building fire).” Lee was sentenced to 10 years in prison for arson.
The 2020 unrest, which came after George Floyd was killed in police custody, affected 140 major U.S. cities and was at one point estimated to have cost more than $1 billion, Axios notably reported in September of that year. The report called the riots the “most expensive” damage in “insurance history,” ahead of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four police officers for the arrest and beating of Rodney King.
“A company called Property Claim Services (PCS) has tracked insurance claims related to civil disorder since 1950,” the report stated. “It classifies anything over $25 million in insured losses as a ‘catastrophe,’ and reports that the unrest this year (from May 26 to June 8) will cost the insurance industry far more than any prior one.”
Minneapolis was hit especially hard during the riots. A report shortly after the city was slammed showed about 700 buildings were damaged. Volunteers helped clean up the debris on the heels of the madness. Erik Hansen, the city’s director of policy and economic development, said it was “disproportionally impacted neighborhoods” struggling economically that fared worst.
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