Federal jury convicts Derrick Thompson on gun, drug charges in Minneapolis crash that killed 5

A federal jury on Friday convicted Derrick John Thompson on gun and drug charges in connection with the Minneapolis crash that killed five women in June 2023 after he had sped off Interstate 35W in and slammed into their car.

Thompson was found guilty on all counts on the fourth day of his trial in U.S. District Court in St. Paul: possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm “during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.”

The 28-year-old Brooklyn Park man did not testify.

While Thompson, the son of former DFL state Rep. John Thompson, awaits sentencing, he also has third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide charges pending in Hennepin County in connection with the fatal crash.

Thompson remains in federal custody in the Sherburne County jail. Sentencing has yet to be scheduled.

Killed in the crash were Sabiriin Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Sahra Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; Salma Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sagal Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis; and Siham Adam, 19, of Minneapolis.

On the night of their deaths, the women were driving home after running errands before a friend’s wedding the next day. Thousands attended their funeral, and an online fundraiser to support their families raised more than $450,000.

During this week’s trial, Thompson’s defense attorneys argued that the drugs and a loaded Glock pistol with an extended magazine discovered in the Escalade he was driving belonged to his brother, Damarco John Thompson — whom the prosecution and defense said was a passenger in the SUV and fled the scene with Derrick Thompson.

Damarco Thompson has not been arrested or charged in connection with the crash.

Police found three phones in their vehicle, one for each brother and another they shared. Police also found video, text and voice messages on Derrick Thompson’s phone documenting drugs being weighed for sale and negotiations over drug purchases.

A black leather bag carrying the gun and drugs was found beneath a distinctive blue cap Damarco Thompson was recorded wearing earlier that night as he dropped off his brother to rent the Escalade at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

More than 2,000 blue pills containing fentanyl, 14 grams of powdered fentanyl and 35 grams of cocaine were seized.

According to court documents, a state trooper saw Thompson driving 95 mph north on I-35W in the Escalade that night. The trooper followed him but did not turn on his emergency lights or sirens because he didn’t want to attempt a traffic stop on city streets given the dangerous driving. The Escalade was seen abruptly cutting across all four lanes and weaving around other vehicles before exiting at Lake Street.

The trooper was about a block behind Thompson when he saw the Escalade “fly through a red light at the intersection of Lake Street and Second Avenue” and crash into a Honda Civic that was crossing the intersection on a green light. Surveillance video from a nearby business recorded the deadly crash.

Witnesses said Thompson fled the scene on foot with a noticeable limp. He was arrested in the parking lot of a nearby Taco Bell, sweaty and bleeding. Police body camera footage played to jurors Tuesday showed Thompson claiming that blood visible on his body was from an old injury, then saying he tripped on a log in the parking lot.

Police found a rental record for the Escalade in Thompson’s name on the ground near its front passenger door. The record showed he had rented it about a half-hour before the crash. Video from Hertz at the airport showed Thompson and his brother arrive, and Derrick Thompson renting the Escalade and the two men departing in separate vehicles.

Thompson broke a hip in the crash but declined surgery before being jailed, according to court records. While at the hospital, he allegedly expressed remorse about the crash to a nurse who treated him and made it clear to her that he had been driving, according to a trial brief filed by the government. But Thompson denied trying to flee police after the crash.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office added new murder charges last month, just after a prosecutor from her office disclosed that Thompson was offered a deal to plead guilty to five of 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide while causing the crash and fleeing the scene.

Terms of the plea deal called for Thompson to serve between 32 and 38 years in prison. In turn, the county would have dropped the other five charges of criminal vehicular homicide while operating a motor vehicle in a gross or negligent manner.

Thompson is barred from possessing firearms based on similar convictions in California. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to evading an officer causing injury, leaving the scene of a crash involving permanent injury and conspiracy to possess marijuana for sale.

The charges stemmed from an incident two years earlier in which he fled police in a vehicle, struck and severely injured a pedestrian, and fled on foot. Officers found more than 17½ pounds of marijuana in Thompson’s car. He was released from prison about six months before the fatal crash in Minneapolis.

Star Tribune staff writers Stephen Montemayor and Jeff Day contributed to this report.