Federal grand jury indicts 4 Minnesota men for Third Precinct fire

The Minneapolis Third Police Precinct is set on fire during a third night of protests following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, on Thursday, May 28, 2020. (Carlos Gonzalez/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)

By Stephen Montemayor / Star Tribune and J.J. Perry

August 25, 2020 at 11:08 PM

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal grand jury on Tuesday, Aug. 25, handed up an indictment charging four Minnesota men with conspiring to set fire to the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct building in the civil unrest that followed the May 25 police killing of George Floyd.

All but one have previously been charged by prosecutors before the new charges were announced on Tuesday in an indictment, which is a more formal mechanism required before the defendants can go to trial. The indictment alleges that they worked with additional unidentified co-conspirators to set fire to the police precinct in south Minneapolis.

The three-page indictment charged one count each of conspiracy to commit arson against:

Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, 22, of Brainerd;
Davon De-Andre Turner, 24, of St. Paul;
Bryce Michael Williams, 26, of Staples;
and Branden Michael Wolfe, 23, of St. Paul.

According to charges, as a crowd of hundreds gathered outside the Third Precinct on May 28, the four men and others breached a fence and entered the building.
Robinson and a still unidentified co-conspirator allegedly ignited an incendiary device and tossed it toward the building. Williams and Turner, helped by another unidentified person, are accused of lighting a Molotov cocktail that the indictment said Turner took into the building and used to start a fire. Wolfe, meanwhile, is accused of pushing a barrel into a fire that had been set at the entrance to the building.

Robinson and Wolfe were previously charged in a federal criminal complaint with aiding and abetting arson and Williams had been charged with conspiracy to commit arson before Tuesday's indictment linked their cases together.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI are still seeking information on suspected arson, explosive device or other destructive acts associated with the late May and early June unrest.

Tips related to the Third Precinct or other business fires in the Twin Cities can be called in to 1-888-ATF-TIPS, e-mailed to ATFTips@atf.gov or sent in anonymously through ReportIt.com . The FBI is collecting information on people who may have incited or promoted violence via 1-800-CALLFBI line or at FBI.gov/violence . The Minneapolis Police Department and Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division is also assisting the joint investigation.