Warrant Issued For Minn. Man Suspected In Somali Restaurant Arson

57-year-old Billy Ray Hackler led Grand Forks Police on a chase around 1:15 am Saturday.

While firefighters knocked down the flames within minutes, the damage was estimated at $90,000.

Police suspect Gust of arson in the attack last week on Juba Coffee House. The fire occurred days after the restaurant’s Somali-American owners found it vandalized with graffiti including the words “go home” and a symbol used in Nazi Germany.

Muslims around the USA have been targeted with violence, threats and harassment in recent weeks following mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino by members or supports of Islamic State militants.

Authorities have not commented on the motivation for the crime, although there’s been concern that it was a hate crime. Investigators said it was “incendiary and suspicious in nature” and released a video showing a person smashing the restaurant’s windows moments before the fire began.

Investigators believe Gust may have injured himself during the incident.

Gust’s criminal history includes pleading guilty to charges of terrorizing, simple assault and preventing arrest, all felonies, for threatening staff at Romantix, an adult entertainment store in downtown Grand Forks, and assaulting a police officer in 2011, according to the Grand Forks Herald.

Juba’s owners said they plan to rebuild in the same location.