Man pleads guilty to firebombing Dakota County building after George Floyd death

A man from Savage pleaded guilty Wednesday to firebombing the Dakota County Service Center in Apple Valley in May.

Fornandous Cortez Henderson, 32, pleaded to one count of aiding and abetting arson in an appearance before U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in St. Paul.

The case against his co-defendant, Garrett Patrick Ziegler, who was also charged with the Molotov cocktail attack, is pending.

The firebombing occurred May 29, four days after George Floyd died while being restrained by police in south Minneapolis, which set off waves of demonstrations and civil unrest locally and worldwide.

Fires and looting occurred in parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul, but little damage was reported in Twin Cities suburbs.

However, damage to the Dakota County Service Center was extensive, mainly from sprinklers that went off after the firebombs were thrown into the building at 14955 Galaxie Av. in Apple Valley.

The center houses a number of state and local agencies, including county courtrooms and judges chambers; the county's offices of planning, parks and public health; the county transit office; social services; and a license center that issues fish and game licenses.

When Apple Valley police got to the scene, they found broken windows, smoke and flames coming from the west side of the building, Sara Thomas, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, wrote in an affidavit.

Police were able to extinguish the blazes using fire extinguishers before the Fire Department arrived.

Officers found a set of Ford car keys in the grass between the center and the parking lot and determined they belonged to a Ford Fiesta parked in the lot that was registered to Ziegler, according to the affidavit.

Police apprehended Henderson and Ziegler as they walked along County Rd. 42, within two blocks of the center.