Staples man pleads guilty to Minneapolis Police Third Precinct arson
United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald announced on November 19, the guilty plea of Bryce Michael Williams, 26, to one count of conspiracy to commit arson at the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct. Williams, who was initially charged via criminal complaint on June 16, and indicted on August 25, entered his guilty plea before Judge Patrick J. Schiltz in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed with the court, on the night of May 28, Williams went to the Third Precinct where a crowd of hundreds had gathered. At one point, the crowd began shouting, “Burn it down, burn it down.” Soon after, a fence that was designed to keep trespassers out of the Third Precinct building was torn down. Williams, along with other co-conspirators, breached the fence and entered the Third Precinct building.
Surveillance video footage from the Third Precinct showed Williams, wearing a mask, a baseball cap, and a hooded sweatshirt, standing near the entrance of the Third Precinct holding a Molotov cocktail while other co-conspirators lit the wick. The Molotov cocktail was taken into the Third Precinct by a co-conspirator and was used to start a fire. Williams later threw a box on an existing fire located just outside the Third Precinct entrance. . .