The protest against the U.S. military got out of hand in St. Louis when a Muslim college student from Minneapolis attempted to burn down a Christian school in 2018, lighting four fires and endangering the lives of 33 children.
Tnuza Jamal Hassan, a college student from Minneapolis, has been charged with intentionally setting four fires at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul to “protest” U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Update (March 15, 2019): In the months since Hassan’s arrest in January 2018, she has been indicted on terrorism charges (per Fox News):
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Tnuza Jamal Hassan, 19, was charged in federal court for attempting to provide material support to Al Qaeda, lying to the FBI and arson, Fox 9 reported. She was initially arrested Jan. 17 after she set eight fires in seven buildings on the St. Catherine University campus in St. Paul.
‘Hassan said this was the same thing that happened in the “Muslim land” and nobody cares if they get hurt, so why not do this?‘ the complaint stated.
The complaint, cited by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, says Hassan told police her intent was to “hurt people” and to “burn the Christian university to the ground.”
The Daily Mail reports the teenager was also quoted as telling police and arson investigators: “You guys are lucky that I don’t know how to build a bomb because I would have done that.”
On Friday, Hassan appeared in Ramsey County District Court and was charged with a single count of first-degree arson, reported Pioneer Press. She was then remanded back to the county jail.
Officials say a sprinkler system prevented a dormitory fire from spreading to a day care center where 33 children and eight adults were present.
The university said in a press release on Thursday that the fires were “contained, and no one was injured. There was damage to furnishings, but no structural damage to the impacted buildings.”
Police obtained surveillance video from the university, which allowed them to track Hassan to Crandall Hall where she was ultimately taken into custody in a student lounge after a room-to-room search.
According to the college, the 19-year-old was last enrolled at St Catherine’s in the fall of 2017.
Hassan reportedly dropped out because her family were planning to travel to Africa.
Officials said between 11.40pm and 2pm, Hassan torched a chair at St Mary’s residence hall and burned a few smaller items, including books, toilet paper and sanitary napkins in women’s bathrooms on campus.
Following her arrest, Hassan allegedly told police that she had written a letter to her roommates containing ‘radical ideas about supporting Muslims and bringing back the caliphate,’ the complaint said.
The letter frightened the roommates, who handed it over to campus security.
Correction: An earlier version of this article suggested that Tnuza Jamal Hassan started the fire in protest to President Trump. We have updated the headline to more accurately reflect the fact that her actions were partly due to her opposition of U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.
