Fired worker throws Molotov cocktails at Missouri restaurant ‘to scare people,’ feds say

The day after a worker was fired from a Missouri Sauce on the Side restaurant — a Midwest chain serving calzones — he went back to the location and tossed Molotov cocktails at it, authorities said.

Now the “disgruntled former employee” has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of “attempt to commit arson,” according to a Dec. 13 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

In his signed plea agreement, 25-year-old Rashaad Cotton admitted to first throwing a Molotov cocktail on a residential street in St. Charles at about 6:20 p.m. April 30, 2021.

Then, while with an underage female, he drove to the Sauce on the Side location in St. Charles, officials said. Cotton and the girl both got out of his car while armed with Molotov cocktails, the documents said.

As customers were at the restaurant, Cotton said he threw one of the “improvised incendiary devices” on part of the building and another near the front door, which ignited, according to the plea agreement.

Cotton’s defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Dec. 14.

The girl he was with threw one of the makeshift weapons at the patio area, officials said.

They then ran back to his car, and while they were speeding away, authorities said Cotton’s vehicle crashed into a curb and was wrecked. They were both arrested.

In an interview with authorities, Cotton said he threw the Molotov cocktails at the restaurant because “he wanted to scare the people at Sauce on the Side because he felt that he wasn’t treated fairly,” authorities said.

Cotton faces anywhere from five to 20 years in federal prison, according to the release. His sentencing is scheduled for April 19.

This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Fired worker throws Molotov cocktails at Missouri restaurant ‘to scare people,’ feds say."