Suspect At Large After Being Charged With Arson In Somali Restaurant Blaze

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Police were seeking a suspect who was charged with arson Friday in connection with a fire that left a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota badly damaged.

The suspect, 25-year-old Matthew Gust, remained at large on Monday, James McCarthy, the assistant state attorney prosecuting the case, told TPM by email.

The Thursday morning blaze did about $90,000 in damage to Juba Coffee & Restaurant. No one was injured.

Authorities already had been investigating a possible hate crime at the restaurant, where Nazi symbols and “go home” messages were painted on the building’s exterior just days before the fire.

McCarthy declined further comment on the case, citing a pending investigation.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Not a crime, just expressing his sincerely-held religious beliefs.

    America should thank him, right?

  2. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    I used to wonder how people could hate as much as these folk do, but I don’t wonder anymore because I hate the haters equally.

  3. All these arsons and massacres and violent assaults by white European descendants makes me think it might be high time to suggest they voluntarily deport themselves. They’re just too disruptive, they don’t appear to want to give an honest day’s labor for an honest buck, they’re way too tied up in their own insular affinity groups, gated communities, pyramid marketing scams & fat food, and they provide the bulk of their political support to a party that at least tolerates and to some extent actually promotes ignorance, religiocity, racial bigotry, jingoism and xenophobia. I’m thinking it might actually be genetic.

  4. So long as he’s Christian, it’s A-OK. The Founding Fathers — most of whom were Liberty University graduates, by the way — intended it that way.

  5. He may already be on his way to Syria to join ISIS.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

25 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for ajaykalra Avatar for druid800 Avatar for silas1898 Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for dv01 Avatar for the_lone_apple Avatar for avattoir Avatar for chammy Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for jimtoday Avatar for kirenos Avatar for cpinva Avatar for jkrogman Avatar for arc_of_the_universe Avatar for redstatewelfarequeen Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for topchap Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for darrtown Avatar for bckrd1 Avatar for geofromnj Avatar for canary02

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: