Suspicious Man Breaks Window, Helping To Instigate Minneapolis Riots

There is an internet rumor that the umbrella man who broke the windows was a policeman named Jacob Pederson.

According to the rumor, it may have been Pederson's ex-wife who recognized and identified him.

Then again, perhaps Pederson is not this guy. Perhaps the man was not a Police Officer, but a Klan member who hoped to bring about racial tension. Who knows? It is all speculation.

Heavy.com, who put out a lot of accurate information FAST, say this is erroneous information:

Jacob Pederson Is Not the AutoZone Umbrella Man, St. Paul Police Say

A viral and incendiary social media accusation against a St. Paul, Minnesota, police officer is false, the police department said in a statement. The situation shows how quickly information can spread on social media, ricocheting around the web and damaging people’s reputations, especially in a fast-moving situation like the unrest in the Twin Cities. 

According to the police statement, the social media falsehood happened to Jacob Pederson, a St. Paul police officer who was erroneously accused of being the mysterious black-clad, umbrella-carrying man involved in methodically breaking windows at an AutoZone during the protests/riots in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Here’s a video of the umbrella man. 

In a statement sent to Heavy, Steve Linders, public information officer for the St. Paul Police Department, wrote that the post accusing Pederson was a “false social media post.” The man isn’t Pederson, he stated (although he didn’t use Pederson’s name). 

The police statement read: 

We are aware of the social media post that erroneously identifies one of our officers as the person caught on video breaking windows in Minneapolis. We want to be perfectly clear about this: The person in the video is not our officer. 

Our officer has been working hard, serving his community, keeping people and property safe, and protecting the right to peacefully assemble. It’s unfortunate that people would post and share this untrue information, adding more confusion to an already painful time in our community.

Who is the umbrella man who started damage at AutoZone?