On 12/16/25 at about 0936 hours, Maplewood Police responded to a report of a fire with a suspect fleeing the scene at an apartment at the Pondview Apartments; [address omitted] E in Maplewood, Ramsey County. Upon arrival, police found multiple residents outside the building. One, JAC, said that he was in his apartment, heard yelling, looked into the hallway, and saw the door to apartment 2xx on fire. JAC grabbed a fire extinguisher and extinguished the flames. The flames had been 1-2 feet high. Other witnesses last saw the suspect, dressed in all black wearing goggles, running to the north of the building.
A maintenance worker, JLS, told police that he encountered the suspect in the underground parking lot holding a door open with his foot. When JLS confronted him, the suspect fled. Then, while he and staff were searching for the suspect, the building’s fire alarm began sounding. The building manager, KLF, provided police CCTV footage of the incident. The footage showed that the suspect gained entry into the secure building at 0914 hours by following another resident in. JLS then encountered him near the underground garage at about 0925 hours.
The suspect then went to the 2nd floor at about 0933 hours, moved a security camera in the hallway, and the building’s fire alarm began sounding at 0936 hours. IAS and three other family members were present in apartment 2xx when the suspect started the fire. Police spoke to them. They said that they saw the smoke entering the apartment and retreated to their balcony. They were shown pictures of the suspect from CCTV images and believed the suspect was a friend they knew as “AVALON.” Two of the family members said they had seen AVALON, who was 18 years old, wearing the same clothes that the suspect was wearing.
IAS said AVALON had stayed with the family in the unit for several days the week before. During that stay, however, AVALON was showing videos depicting graphic violence, talking about his interest in homicides, and smoking marijuana. The family, therefore, kicked him out of the unit on 12/9/25. When they did, AVALON was angry and said “you should be afraid of me.” IAS said AVALON was from Sudan, had a brother named “AMOS” who was incarcerated in Moose Lake for homicide, and that AVALON’s younger brother had committed suicide in August 2025. AVALON’s father, “MENASA”, he said, lived in Fridley, AVALON was now living in Fridley, and AVALON was known to carry guns.
Finally, IAS provided a physical description of AVALON that matched the description of the suspect on CCTV and the description provided by JLS. Using the biographical information provided by IAS and the other family members, police identified AVALON as Abalony Menasa CHAM (4/2/2007). When family members were shown CHAM’s DVS photo, they positively identified him as AVALON. The door of apartment 2xx was charred on both sides. There was an obvious pour pattern of accelerant on the carpet below the door, and a strong smell of gasoline.
