15 months after mass shooting on Franklin Av., 2nd teen arrested and charged with attempted murder

A second teenager has been captured more than 15 months after he allegedly unleashed rapid-fire gunshots in south Minneapolis one summer evening that hit nine people outside a corner store on a busy thoroughfare.

Demario Lee Dempsey, 18, of Minneapolis, was charged Friday in Hennepin County District Court with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the mass shooting in August 2023 outside the Minneapolis Market, near the intersection of E. Franklin and S. Chicago avenues.

The charges say the teen’s arrest occurred last Wednesday after police received a tip that he was armed with a gun near George Floyd Square at 38th and Chicago despite having a violent criminal history that barred him from possessing a firearm.

Officers followed Dempsey and someone with him as he drove to a Maple Grove neighborhood, where he rammed a police squad and fled on foot until he was quickly captured, the felony charges in that case allege.

Dempsey was 17 at the time of the shooting and is charged as a juvenile. The County Attorney’s Office told the court it intends to have him tried as an adult, which would likely lead to a more severe sentence if convicted. Dempsey remains in custody ahead of a Dec. 5 court appearance.

Charged in February with the same counts stemming from the mass shooting was Jaden T. Butcher, 19, of Minneapolis, who remains jailed ahead of a Jan. 27 court hearing.

The criminal complaints against the defendants emphasized that “at least four of the people shot were juveniles, as well as a grandmother who was present with her approximately 8-year-old granddaughter. The granddaughter was trampled as the victims [fled] at the time of the shooting.”

According to the criminal complaint and police records concerning the shooting on Aug. 20, 2023:

Shortly before 6 p.m., two people got out of a car with guns — a pistol and a fully automatic rifle — and fired at least 42 rounds into a crowd and hit “no less than nine people,” the charges read. ShotSpotter technology detected at least 28 shots fired within 1½ seconds.

Surveillance video from “various sources” helped investigators identify the car and track it to Butcher’s guardian as the owner. Three days after the shooting, investigators saw Butcher get in the vehicle outside the home of his brother and drive away. Undercover officers tailed Butcher, and the State Patrol attempted to stop him, but he sped off and was not pursued.

Six months later, Butcher was arrested after he showed up at HCMC to be treated for a gunshot wound he suffered during a burst of gunfire near the 1300 block of W. Lake Street in the Uptown area.