Charges: Man intentionally set fire that displaced 50 units at Burnsville apartment complex
BURNSVILLE, Minn. -- A man has been charged with arson after he allegedly set an apartment complex on fire, displacing 50 units and injuring one person on Saturday morning.
Jourdan Murray-Thigpen, 27, is charged with arson in both the first and second degree and intent to terrorize, for the incident at Parkvue Flats.
Shortly after arriving, dispatch received text messages from an occupant of unit 218 in the apartment building, later identified as Murray-Thigpen. One of the texts said, "no I left I'll turn myself in at a later date I started the fire."
Officers spoke with another occupant from unit 218, who told officers her boyfriend, Murray-Thigpen, started the fire. She stated the two had gotten into a fight after she arrived home to their apartment 10 minutes later than usual.
Police say Murray-Thigpen doused his girlfriend's bedroom and her with rubbing alcohol and held a lighter and flicked it several times, saying he was going to kill her and himself by burning the apartment down. He went to warn the other tenants in the unit when the victim ran out of the apartment for help.
Minneapolis police officers located the suspect near West Broadway Avenue, where they found his car with a bottle labeled "isopropyl alcohol" inside.
When officers arrested the suspect, they say he had two box lighters on him.
According to the report, officers dialed the phone number that had sent the text messages to dispatch earlier and the phone they had taken from Murray-Thigpen began to ring.
Local Domestic Violence Resources
Women's Advocates
www.wadvocates.org
Crisis Line: (651) 227-8284
St. Paul & Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project
https://www.stpaulintervention.org
Crisis Line: (651) 645-2824
Minnesota Day One
www.dayoneservices.org
Crisis Line: 1-866-223-1111
Esperanza United
esperanzaunited.org
Bilingual crisis line: (651) 772-1611.
For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.
