One person was arrested after a firebomb was thrown at an ice cream store in Minneapolis

An ice cream shop in Minneapolis was damaged after someone threw Molotov cocktails through the front windows twice — once Sunday night and again Monday.

A Minneapolis police spokesman said officers arrested a man they suspect was behind the two incidents at Fletcher’s Cafe and Cafe on East Hennepin Street.

The store was crowded with regular customers Tuesday who came in to support them and to buy an ice cream or sandwich. Plywood covered the damaged windows, but the store was business as usual.

Two windows were shattered and some chairs caught fire when the first Molotov cocktail was thrown, owner Jason Fletcher said. The store was closed during both incidents and no one was injured.

Fletcher said he was very concerned about this happening two days in a row.

“At first I thought, ‘Well, you know, someone’s angry about something, or just causing trouble,'” Fletcher said. “When it happened again, it was as if it was clear that we were now being targeted.”

Fletcher wondered if the suspect was targeting the store because of the 8-by-10-foot rainbow flag, which stretches across the storefront outside the front door.

“I really hope that’s not the case, and there’s nothing that definitively says it was,” Fletcher said. “Hopefully we can find out their motives.”

A Minneapolis Police Department spokesman said officers and staff with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are looking into possible motives.

The spokesman said police first received a report at around 10pm on Sunday that someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail into the store. Officers responded and found a broken exterior window and burn marks near the front entrance. Police received a report of the second incident on Monday shortly before 1pm

The police spokesman said officers believe the same person is responsible for both incidents. Each time, police believe a man got out of a pickup truck, lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it out the window before fleeing in the truck, the spokesman said.

A few hours after Monday’s incident, officers found the man in a car about a mile from Fletcher. The ministry spokesman said that he was arrested without any incident.

Mayor Jacob Frey stopped by Tuesday. He said it was his favorite place for coffee and ice cream.

“This is my coffee shop,” Fry said. “I’m here almost every day for a cup of coffee or a breakfast burrito. I know the staff here, I know the regular customers, and this is truly a community asset. And so to see something really scary like this happen, not once, but twice, is very disturbing.”

Police are monitoring the area, Frey said.

Fletcher said the mayor is one of many customers and friends who have already reached out to support the store.

“I can’t even react fast enough,” Fletcher said. “The number of people who have said, ‘If you need anything, call me,’ and the number of people offering to help pay for the window. It’s unbelievable.”

He said he was still determining the cost of the damage. In the meantime, he continues to work at the store, such as preparing for the store’s annual community dinner on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.