#Minneapolis arson suspect ID’d through security cameras, Snapchat videos

A Minnesota man accused of torching a Minneapolis police precinct during George Floyd protests was caught on surveillance video and his own Snapchat account, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Dylan Robinson, 22, is seen on video tossing a Molotov cocktail and lighting a fire inside the police station on Mary 28, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Colorado, where he fled and was arrested Sunday

In another video, Robinson is seen lighting a Molotov cocktail for a second protester, who then throws it at the building, prosecutors said.

In a post on his own Snapchat account, “Robinson typed several comments, including, ‘These guys have never made a Molotov…. Rookies,’” the complaint said. “‘We need gasoline.’”

Another Snapchat video, later reposted on Facebook, shows Robinson lighting a fire outside the first-floor stairwell inside the station house, prosecutors said.

The images were among the hours of social media photos and videos reviewed by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after the fire, which came amid rioting stemming from Floyd’s May 25 death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The feds said they got help identifying Robinson after the mother of a former classmate called police after she recognized him in images released by authorities. Investigators were able to confirm his identity from officials at the Pillager Area Charter School in Pillager, Minnesota.

They later “pinged” his cell phone, which put him at the scene of the precinct and in Breckenridge, Colorado, where he fled and was arrested by the US Marshals Service. He was charged Tuesday with aiding and abetting arson.

Robinson, who is from Brainerd, Minnesota,  also faces probation violation charges in his home state for fleeing the state and not notifying his probation officer before fleeing the state, the complaint said.

He is the second suspect charged in the station house fire, which forced police to flee the precinct.

Branden Wolfe, 23, was charged with arson in the incident on June 3, and accused of rolling a burning barrel into the building during the rioting.