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The masked white man recorded smashing the windows of a Minneapolis AutoZone during an early George Floyd protest is a suspected white supremacist who was trying to incite racial tension, cops reportedly believe.
A Minneapolis Police arson detective says the 32-year-old man’s actions, which were captured on video, help set off a chain reaction that led to the store burning and days of looting and rioting, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“This was the first fire that set off a string of fires and looting throughout the precinct and the rest of the city,” the investigator, Erika Christensen, reportedly wrote in the affidavit filed in court this week
Before “Umbrella Man” started shattering the store’s glass, “the protests had been relatively peaceful,” Christensen said.
“The actions of this person created an atmosphere of hostility and tension,” she said. “This individual’s sole aim was to incite violence.”
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