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A Minneapolis man was charged with a felony Wednesday after investigators say an early morning hookah session on May 16 burned down Lola on the Lake at Bde Maka Ska.
23-year-old Nouh Elmi was charged with a single count of negligent fire causing property damage of more than $2,500.
In a criminal complaint, investigators say surveillance video recovered from Lola's and a neighboring business shows that at about 2:45 a.m. Elmi and a woman approached the south side of Lola's.
The two sat at a table and about 15 minutes later, Elmi took a hookah from a bag and tried to light it. Wind from an approaching storm made lighting the hookah difficult, but video shows the coals were eventually lit and that Elmi later dumped the embers from the hookah behind three garbage cans in the southwest corner of the building.
Neighbors reported the fire during the early morning hours and firefighters located the three garbage cans. The roof above the cans was burned and sagging leading fire fighters to believe the fire started behind the cans at the base of the wall.
Video shows flames at the base of the hollow columns of the building, which then ignited interior walls and fully engulfed the buildling by 3:42 a.m. Damage is estimated at $2 million.
Elmi is scheduled to appear in court on July 10.