Bail set for suspect as community rallies behind firebombed Minneapolis ice cream shop

Bail was set Thursday in connection with felony charges leveled against a man they say twice damaged a Minneapolis ice cream shop with firebombs within a 15-hour span this week, while the Northeast neighborhood has rallied around the small business in the wake of the vandalism.

What the criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court alleging two counts of felony arson does not reveal is why Firomsa Ahmed Umar, 30, of Fridley allegedly targeted Fletcher’s Ice Cream and Cafe late Sunday and again midday Monday.

Umar was arrested a few hours after the second firebombing and appeared on court Thursday afternoon, when his bail was set by Judge Paul Scoggin at $75,000. The Minnesota Star Tribune has reached out to Umar’s attorney for a response to the allegations.

A scorch mark remained on the sidewalk Tuesday next to the shop, which displays a large Pride flag above its entrance in the 300 block of E. Hennepin Avenue. Owner Jason Fletcher has wondered whether the flag was behind his business being singled out for attack. That possibility was on the minds of the responding officers as well.

“They didn’t want to say, ‘This is for sure what it is,’ but everybody was suspicious,” Fletcher said Tuesday.

Dan Borgertpoepping, spokesman for the County Attorney’s Office, said there is “nothing at this time, based on the current evidence,” that points to a motive for the firebombings, “but the investigation is ongoing.”

Despite the incidents, Fletcher’s was open on Tuesday. Community members poured in to buy ice cream and show support for the business and its employees. Plywood covered the front window broken by bottles filled with an accelerant.

“Honestly, it brings me to tears,” Fletcher said as he sat inside the shop. “I can’t even answer my phone calls fast enough, I can’t answer the text messages, the messages on Instagram or Facebook.”

Several customers said they had never been there before but stopped in after hearing about the crimes. A few customers Tuesday were gay or transgender people who wanted to show Fletcher support.

“We’re members of the LGBT community, and we don’t know for sure if it was an attack on it, but it was just kind of scary,” said Paul Walker, a 51-year-old Near North neighborhood resident who visited with his roommate.

As mayoral candidate DeWayne Davis came in the shop on Tuesday, he said he’s been fearful of an increase in politically motivated attacks on the LGBTQ community and others. It’s also personal for Davis as someone who previously received threats for offering a ministry to LGBTQ people when he was a pastor at All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church.

And, he said, “as a gay Black man, I’m also aware that I’m also a target.”

“He came down and gave me a hug,” Fletcher said.

The first fire was put out Sunday night by Jim Fehrenkamp, owner of Mac’s Industrial Sports Bar, and one of his employees.

Some of the bar’s regulars said a man warned a woman on the sidewalk to get out of the way before he threw the firebomb, Fehrenkamp said. He said he is pessimistic about public safety in the city and has had to add a security guard and cameras in the past year because of incidents such as customers “sucker punching” him.

A block away at Kramarczuk’s Sausage Co., owner Orest Kramarczuk lauded the Northeast community and called the incident an outlier. .

“One incident like that should not destroy the perception of people about this area, because it’s a good area,” said Kramarczuk, whose family business has been in the neighborhood for more than 70 years.

The heart of northeast Minneapolis is one of the oldest parts of the city, and in recent years has been built up with a mixture of restaurants, high-rise apartments and historical industrial buildings converted into homes and artist lofts, a short walk from churches with ties to Eastern European countries.

A variety of other businesses also display Pride flags.

Jocelyn Ward, a North Loop resident, glanced into Fletcher’s on Tuesday as she walked back from a gym session. She described the area as welcoming to people from all backgrounds but said she understands those who are put on edge by a firebombing.

“We’ve always walked comfortably safe around here, and this has always been an amazing place with amazing, beautiful people,” Ward said.

According to the charges against Umar, police were dispatched to the shop about 12:50 p.m. Monday about a man seen throwing a Molotov cocktail at a window. Officers received word of a similar incident about 10:45 p.m. Sunday at the same business.

Numerous witnesses said the suspect, later identified as Umar, threw the firebomb and drove off, according to the charges. Police learned the make, model and license plate number of the minivan Umar was driving. Surveillance video from both attacks helped police identify Umar as the perpetrator.

Officers spotted the minivan that afternoon near Ontario Street and University Avenue. Police pulled over Umar and arrested him.

“On the front passenger seat was a red gasoline container,” the charges read.

There will be a neighborhood safety rally to support Fletcher’s on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the ice cream shop, City Council Member Michael Rainville said Tuesday.

“There’s no room for hate, and we are not a hateful neighborhood,” he said.