<p>TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida man was convicted Tuesday of setting fire to a sporting goods store and shopping center in Tampa during unrest that followed protests over the death of George Floyd last year.</p>
<p>Terrance Lee Hester Jr., 20, pleaded guilty in Tampa federal court to damaging or destroying by fire a building used in interstate commerce, according to court records. He faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years and up to 20 years in prison, the Department of Justice said in a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/tampa-man-pleads-guilty-committing-arson-during-civil-disturbance">news release</a>.</p>
<p>Hester was identified in surveillance video as throwing a flaming piece of cloth into a Champs Sports store through a broken window last May, according to a criminal complaint. The damage to the store and other businesses in the plaza was estimated at $1.25 million.</p>
<p>The Champs store was one of several businesses in a commercial district of Tampa that were damaged or looted following what had been a peaceful protest over the May 2020 death of Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes.</p>
<p>Hester surrendered to federal authorities in Oswego, New York, last July. That same month, a state prosecutor in Tampa filed rioting and looting charges against dozens of people for ransacking stores, causing destruction and fighting with police officers the same night as the Champs fire.</p>
<p>A sentencing date was not immediately set.</p>
