Man pleads guilty to federal charges for setting fires at 2 Minnesota mosques

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man who set fires at two mosques in Minnesota in 2023 pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday, federal prosecutors said.

Jackie Rahm Little, 38, admitted to one count of arson and one count of damage to religious property for the fires at the Masjid Al-Rahma Mosque in Bloomington and the Masjid Omar Islamic Center in Minneapolis. A sentencing date has not been set.

Court records show that Little had a history of mental illness, arson or suspected arson and domestic violence.

“When someone sets fire to a house of worship, it is not only a federal crime, it is an attack on the heart of a community,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement. “Minnesota has endured too many assaults on our sacred spaces.”

The fire that Little started at the Bloomington mosque on April 24, 2023, forced the evacuation of children who were attending day care and caused more than $378,000 in damage. He also lit a cardboard box on fire the day before in a restroom at the Minneapolis mosque, but was interrupted by an employee before the fire could spread.

Leaders said the fires shocked the local Islamic community and saw them as part of a larger trend of increased attacks on mosques and Muslim institutions across the state and country.

“These violent attacks were meant to instill fear, but instead they have strengthened our community’s resolve,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. He was at the Bloomington mosque when the fire started there and helped evacuate the children.