A 43-year-old man said family problems prompted him to set a small fire just inside the entrance to the Uptown Target store this week, according to charges filed Wednesday.
Derrick P. Hansen, of Burnsville, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with arson and burglary in connection with the incident about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday at the Target Express on the corner of W. Lake Street and S. Fremont Avenue.
Hansen was arrested at the scene and remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail ahead of a court appearance Thursday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
According to the charges:
Police arrived at the intersection and saw Hansen standing nearby and watching firefighters tend to the small blaze. Officers arrested him immediately across the street.
Surveillance video showed Hansen using a trash can lid to break the store's glass doors and then going in and out of the retailer several times before starting the fire using garbage cans from inside the store. Hansen then collected items and threw them into the growing fire.
Hansen told police he broke into the store and started the blaze because "he was having family problems and was trying to let his frustration out," the charges read.
Residents who live in apartments above were forced to briefly leave their homes as firefighters put out the flames. The store pushed back its opening time from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Hansen is also charged in Cass County District Court in North Dakota with felony reckless endangerment and two misdemeanors — driving under the influence of drugs and criminal mischief — on accusations that he shot a BB gun at passing vehicles on Interstate 94 near Mapleton, N.D. One of the drivers who was targeted reported a hole in one of their van's windows.
Law enforcement recovered a .177-caliber CO2 pistol suspected of being the weapon involved in the incident.
Hansen was released from the Cass County jail without posting bail and agreeing to enroll in a drug treatment program.
