A political commentator and a former senior state Republican Party official said someone wearing a mask detonated an incendiary device in the trash can at the curb outside his Eagan home early Friday.
“My family is safe but shaken,” Michael Brodkorb, who posted a brief account on X along with security video of the explosion that occurred shortly after 12:45 a.m. “I am furious.”
The 51-year former deputy chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota said he’s certain his home — where he lives with his wife and three children — was targeted by the perpetrator, but he’s not sure whether the person knew Brodkorb lived there.
The suspect rode a bicycle “down the street outside my home, stood there for four or five minutes on the phone,” he said. “It went off, and they left.”
Brodkorb said the person, whose face was covered in some way, passed “many trash cans on my street” before singling out the one at the end of his driveway.
Brodkorb said police were notified, and he was waiting for them to collect the evidence left behind.
Police Sgt. Rich Evans described the explosive as “a mortar-style firework,” and added that an arson investigation has been started in hopes of making an arrest.
Brodkorb was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2008 and served as the deputy chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2009 to 2011 while also working for the state Senate Republican Caucus.
