NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. — Police in New Brighton are investigating a “suspicious” fire over the weekend that left a family’s garage in ruins.
Haley and Josh Ludwig say, based on the evidence so far, they believe the fire was set intentionally early Saturday morning. They shared Ring doorbell video with KARE 11, showing police and firefighters responding after a newspaper delivery man first spotted the flames. "Your house is on fire, sir! Your garage is on fire," one of the first responders says as they knock on the door to wake up the family.
A neighbor’s camera also captured footage of a car in the area and turned the evidence over to the police department. In a Facebook post, the police shared the photo of the car and said it was “driving up to the residence and an unknown person approaching the exterior of the garage and fire was then observed on the video.”
The Ludwigs also said that their yard sign, with phrases like Black Lives Matter and others for social justice, was later missing.
“You hate to think that somebody would actually do something so horrific,” Haley Ludwig said, “over a sign that, to us, represents peace.”
New Brighton police have added a large security camera to the front of the house, to monitor the neighborhood as they continue to investigate.
The incident was particularly unsettling because the Ludwigs have two small children three years and younger.
“Just a really sickening feeling that’s hard to shake. We’re not getting a lot of sleep over here,” Ludwig said. “There were people sleeping in this house that could have died.”
The incident has also shaken the surrounding community – and led them to act right away. Angela Fredrickson, who has lived in New Brighton for more than a decade and runs a farmer’s market in town, put out a Facebook post after seeing the news and helped raise $1,500.
She dropped that money at the family’s doorstep just a few days after the fire.
“To have a fire like that happen right below their children’s bedrooms is… quite frightening,” Fredrickson said, adding that the donations will hopefully “help with them food if they need it right now, [and] to add to the reward to help finding the person who did this.”
The Ludwigs are glad to be safe and healthy.
But they, too, want to know who did this – and why.
“Every time I talk about it out loud,” Ludwig said, “it’s like… we have to find this person.”