A College of St. Scholastica student has been charged with a felony for starting a fire in a campus parking lot last week, according to the Duluth Police Department.
Ronald Bates Case, 18, was charged with manufacturing, possessing and discharging an incendiary and explosive device. Just before midnight April 28, St. Scholastica security was notified there was a fire in a main parking lot. Four Molotov cocktails were found in the lot, which was empty at the time. There were no injuries or damages to property.
The college received a tip about the identity of the suspect, and items used to manufacture Molotov cocktails were found in the suspect's possession, police said. Case lived in campus housing but has been removed by the college. He is being allowed to finish the semester, which concludes with finals this week, said St. Scholastica spokesman Bob Ashenmacher.
Whether he will be allowed to remain enrolled at the college has not yet been decided, he said, and will depend on the college's own findings and those of the criminal process.
