Mankato fraternity house burns in suspected arson attack

MANKATO – Members of a college fraternity in Mankato say their chapter house has been severely damaged by arson.

Mankato police said they’ve arrested a man after the fire at 227 Lincoln St., the location of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter house.

Mitchell John Thompson, 32, was charged with first-degree arson, a felony, in connection with the fire reported about 5 a.m. Monday.

Henry Dake, a fraternity member who lived at the house, said a housemate knocked on his door to rouse him early that morning.

“‘There’s an actual fire, get out of the house!’” Dake recalled hearing.

After descending a fire escape, Dake, a sophomore accounting major at Minnesota State University, Mankato, said he lingered in the backyard, dazed.

Dake said he then went to the front of the house, which was still ablaze. He said the banners hanging from the house had been torched.

Eight people in the house at the time escaped injury, Dake said. All were displaced but have found temporary housing.

Damage to the house was estimated at $50,000.

“Thankfully, all of our brothers are safe, but the partial, but not total loss of our chapter house is a heartbreaking blow,” said an online fundraising page for the fraternity.

A witness said he saw a man standing across the street from the fire as it burned, according to a charging document. The man then ran off.

Police said they recognized the description of the man and found Thompson at his address, a group home.

Thompson is scheduled for an initial court appearance Sept. 25.

The Phi Kappa Psi house sits two blocks from the site of another recent fire in the neighborhood.

Late last month, two children died and their mother was injured in a duplex fire in Mankato’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Another child and a man escaped without injury, as did the residents of the first floor. The mother, Deanna Lenzen, is at “home and recovering,” according to an online fundraiser.

Phi Kappa Psi members had helped set up tables at an event to raise money for the survivors of that fire.

Lincoln Park residents say Monday’s was the third recent fire in the area, and it has them feeling insecure, said Drew Campbell, president of the neighborhood association.

Officials are not investigating the fraternity house blaze in connection with the other recent fires, city spokesman Paul David said.

A statement from Minnesota State Mankato said the university reached out to the residents of the house and have made mental health professionals available to them.

“We were saddened to hear about the fire that impacted one of our recognized student organizations early Monday morning,” said a statement Tuesday night from Brian Jones, acting vice president for student affairs at Minnesota State Mankato.