The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announces bias charges have been filed after several Somali-owned businesses in south Minneapolis were damaged.
Harlin St. John, 36, of Minneapolis, is accused smashing windows with rocks along East Franklin Avenue and 24th Avenue South early Sept. 18, causing more than $8,000 in damage. He's facing five total counts including damage to property because of bias.
According to the criminal complaint, St. John told police he would pay for the windows. Then said he did it in retaliation because he believed someone of Somali descent shot a family member and that he hates "the Somalis." Police caught up to St. John when a man wearing the same clothes as the suspect seen in surveillance video of the incident walked into the Hennepin County Government Center the following day.
St. John is scheduled for his first court appearance Monday. Additional charges are "likely" according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
