Suspected arsonist in custody after Uptown Minneapolis trash fires displace 6 residents, shutter businesses

MINNEAPOLIS — The lights are on, and the ink is flowing inside Ink Lab in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood. It's the first day back for artists after someone intentionally set several garbage fires.

"Back in the shop we got here this morning and power cleaned," said Erica Bessler on Friday.

David Dettloff, who owns Ink Lab, was finally able to watch the surveillance footage that shows exactly what happened early Monday morning.

In the video, you see a man walk up to a dumpster and look inside before setting it on fire. You can see the large flames quickly spread, scaling up the building and melting everything in its way.

"What mostly struck me is how casually this guy is coming back here and lighting a fire," said Dettloff. "It's that easy to destroy a building and mess with a bunch of people's lives."

The fire left six people without a home, shut down businesses for days, and put one man behind bars.

Five trash fires were set by the same man, according to a report by the Minneapolis Fire Department .

Rose Opstad lived in the building. We caught up with her as she gathered her belongings. Her home was deemed uninhabitable.

"It was incredibly intense, very scary," Opstad said. "All I was faced with was a hallway full of smoke and flames coming through the door."

Adding fuel to the frustration of the folks who own shops there, an emergency homeless shelter could move in right across the street. InkLab's owner worries the proposed shelter directly from his Lake Street shop could also mess with people's lives.

"If people like me and those who run businesses along this block keep fighting to make this area better, have nice retail stores and decent restaurants for people to visit, we can keep Uptown an exciting environment," he said.

Dozens shared his sentiment at a meeting earlier this month.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense to put an emergency shelter in the middle of a retail space," said one neighbor. "It's not like we'd do that in the Mall of America."

The developer behind the plan said it "will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, comfort or general welfare."

Another planning commission hearing is set for mid-August. Until then business owners in this buzzing neighborhood will be left with some burning questions.