EL CAJON, Calif.—One of two men charged with setting fire to a Chase bank in La Mesa, California, following last year’s contentious protest outside the city’s police headquarters pleaded guilty Oct. 21 to arson and burglary charges. Ricky Bernard Cooper, 34, is set to be sentenced next month for the May 30, 2020, fire inside the Chase bank branch at 4791 Spring St. He also pleaded guilty to a burglary count in connection with looting stores at the La Mesa Springs Shopping Center. The May 30 protest—sparked by the Memorial Day in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the controversial arrest of another Black man, Amaurie Johnson, in La Mesa a few days prior—began with demonstrators marching on Interstate 8 in the afternoon, before the group moved to the La Mesa police station. A confrontation broke out at nightfall, with some protesters throwing objects, and officers firing beanbag rounds …